A Hero's Awakening
by VegetaPrinceofDarkness
Summary: DBZNaruto crossover. Gohan has left home to go on a journey to become stronger. Along the way he ends up in the village hidden in the leaves, where he may learn what the true strength of the human spirit is, and just what it really means to be a hero.
1. Chapter 1

Hmmmm...Not sure if I should be making another story when I'm already working on two as it is but the ideas for this one won't quit screaming at me to be let out lol. Anyways, this is going to be a Dragon Ball Z/Naruto crossover, which is something that I've never seen on this site. Oh yeah, for the DBZ characters this takes place about a year and a half after the Cell games and Gohan has kept up with his training. Also, for the Naruto characters this will take place when Naruto is helping Jiraiya look for the new Hokage after the Chuunin exams.

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or Naruto (Note: This covers all chapters as it's much too troublesome to make a disclaimer for every chapter.)

He hated doing this, but she'd given him no other choice. He knew that she had his best interests at heart, but there's no way he'd be able to live with himself if he were to just give in to what she wanted. The torch of "world's savior" had been passed on to him a year and a half ago and he now had too much responsibility to waste all of his time studying. Not that she would ever allow herself to admit such a thing. Her son, after all, was destined to be the greatest scholar this world has ever seen...even if it did mean the world had to blow up because of it. Well, he'd decided enough was enough. He'd been training for the last eighteen months, but it just wasn't enough. His mother was just too overbearing, especially since Goten was born. He took a second look at the note he'd written before coming downstairs.

_Mom,_

_I'm sorry to have to do this but I'm going on a little trip. I don't know where I'm going or for how long I'll be gone but please try to understand that I don't have any other options. I need to get some training in and I just can't do it with you making me study all the time. I don't mean to sound disrespectful but when Dad died he left me with the responsibility of protecting Earth, and that's not something I can just ignore just because you want something else for me. Please don't think I'm being rebellious, I'm just doing what I have to do, but I'll understand if you get mad. Don't worry though, I'll make sure to do some studying to stay sharp. I know you're going to want to try and get someone to come looking for me but please don't do that, this is hard enough for me as it is. Tell Goten I love him, and I'll be missing you both._

_Love, Gohan._

Gohan sighed and taped the note to the table. He hefted the backpack he'd already prepared onto his back and headed for the door. He stepped out into the darkness of the early morning and shut the door behind him, then turned around and took one last look at his home before taking off towards Kami's lookout at a leisurely pace.

After about half an hour of flight Kami's lookout came into view. Mostly Gohan had come here to give Korin a visit and hopefully get some senzu beans for his trip, but he figured he'd stop by and give Piccolo and Dende a visit first. He flew up past Korin's tower, seeing Korin watering one of his latest crops of beans and Yajirobe sitting back and snacking on something. Gohan landed on the lookout and immediately saw Piccolo meditating near some of the trees and started towards him. Piccolo sensed his approach and stood up, taking a good look at the young man. He hadn't seen Gohan since the day that Mirai Trunks returned to the future and noticed some changes. While he wasn't quite a man yet, he'd lost a good portion of the baby fat off his face, narrowing it some. He'd also grown a bit taller, though he still had a good ways to go before he'd be fully grown. One thing that hadn't changed though was his clothing. He noted with pride that Gohan still wore the purple gi and cape that he'd given him prior to the Cell games. Piccolo gave Gohan a small smile.

"Hey kid, what's up?" Gohan waved and returned his smile.

"Not too much. Just thought I'd stop by to see you and Dende before I left. Piccolo noticed that his voice had also deepened a bit, though it would probably go unnoticed to anyone with less sensitive ears.

"So, you've finally decided to get away from that mother of yours for a while?" Gohan chuckled at this.

"Yeah, but I feel kinda bad about it 'cause I know she's gonna be upset."

"Don't feel bad kid, you're only doing what you have to do. She'll understand someday."

"Thanks, Piccolo." His only response was a slight nod. At that moment, Gohan noticed Mr. Popo watering the plants so he called to him. Mr. Popo sat his watering can down and walked over to Gohan.

"Hello Gohan, can I help you with something?"

"Yeah. I was wondering if Dende was busy."

"Not at the moment. I'll go get him for you." As Mr. Popo headed into Kami's palace, Gohan sat down next to where Piccolo now hovered, having resumed his meditation. Several minutes later Mr. Popo and Dende emerged, Popo going back to watering the plants and Dende going to see Gohan.

"Hey Gohan, it's good to see you." He smiled. While Gohan hadn't changed much over the last three years, Dende had grown considerably and already had a more mature voice. Gohan blinked in surprise. Piccolo chuckled at this, having expected him to react like that, though it was more from the thoughts he was getting through their bond since he was still meditating. He decided to explain for the boy.

"We Nameks mature much faster during our teenage years than most other races do." This embarrassed Dende, causing him to blush.

"Looks like it'll be a while before I catch up to you then huh?" Dende laughed.

"Yeah. So, what brings you here Gohan? We haven't seen you in a while." Gohan chuckled nervously.

"Sorry about that. Mom keeps me busy studying all the time and I have to keep up with my training so I haven't really had any spare time. The reason I'm here is because I've decided that I'm going away from home for a while so I can get some decent training in and I decided to come see you and Piccolo before I go get some senzu beans." Dende grimaced.

"So we can expect an outburst from your mom then?" Gohan laughed.

"Probably. Sorry about that but there's no way I would've been able to do this if I'd waited until after she woke up."

"Don't worry about it." They just smiled at each other for a moment before Gohan broke the silence.

"Well, I guess I'd better be going. I want to try and find a good place to train as soon as possible. I'll see you guys later." Gohan waved as he walked towards the edge of the lookout and allowed himself to go into a free fall towards Korin's tower. As he saw the mystical cat's home approaching, he exerted his energy under him to slow his descent, eventually stopping in front of it. He floated over to the tower and landed behind a sleeping Yajirobe. A mischievous smirk crossed his lips and he snuck up behind the lazy samurai. He bent down and whispered in his ear.

"Hey, is that Vegeta? He looks pretty mad." Yajirobe awoke with a yell and was immediately down on his knees and shaking in fear.

"I'm sorry for cutting off your tail Vegeta sir! Please don't kill me." After a moment of silence Gohan couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. Yajirobe looked up and glared at Gohan. "What was that for?! You know that guy still scares me!" After a bit more chuckling, Gohan apologized.

"Sorry, i just couldn't help myself. You were just too peaceful." Yajirobe started grumbling about Saiyajins, but was interrupted.

"What's all that commotion Yajirobe? You know it's time for my catnap." Korin got up out of a nearby chair which Gohan hadn't noticed before and proceeded to chew Yajirobe out.

"I was trying to sleep too you crazy cat! But Gohan decided to come up here and scare me half to death. A guy can't get any respect around here."

"Maybe if you made yourself useful for once instead of just eating and sleeping all day you'd get some respect."

"What did you say?!"

"What, did your ears become lazy too? I said you're useless you lazy bum!"

"I don't have to take this from a cat! Especially one that needs a walking stick." Yajirobe stuck his tongue out at Korin and they glared daggers at each other.

"Well maybe you'd like to see just what this "stick" is good for!" He picked it up and began chasing after Yajirobe. Gohan just stood there watching for a few minutes before he decided that enough was enough.

"Uhhhh...Mr. Korin?" The cat stopped trying to clobber Yajirobe and for the first time noticed that Gohan was there.

"Well hello there Gohan, I take it that you need some senzu beans?" Gohan nodded.

"I'm going away for a while to train and I don't know what I'll find while I'm out."

"Alright, just give me a second and I'll have some for you." He walked over to where he grew the beans and came back with a small brown pouch. "I always keep a pouch of five hanging around just in case you guys need them."

"Thanks master Korin! I'd better get out of here though, I don't want to be here when my mom goes to see Piccolo and Dende to get them to look for me." Korin laughed.

"Yeah, your mom can be a real hothead can't she?"

"Yeah well if you ask me he deserves it!" This earned Yajirobe a lump on the head courtesy of Korin's walking stick. "What the hell was that for?!"

"For being an idiot! Now go make yourself useful and water the senzu!" Yajirobe walked over to the bean plants grumbling.

"Grouchy old cat. What makes him so special?"

"What was that?!" Gohan could see the fire in Korin's eyes and decided that now would be a good time to leave. He stepped over to the railing and took flight in a random direction. Flying slowly so as to enjoy the countryside view below him and the rising sun before him, Gohan flew on for a couple of hours before he looked down and saw a path that was leading to a split, so he landed at the split and read the signs. The path went to three different cities. He decided to go to Otafuku city, which was about 6 miles away. No sooner than he started walking than he heard a couple voices. He turned around and saw an older man with long white hair that reached down his back in a ponytail accompanied by a rather talkative blond boy. He waited for them to catch up to him, suddenly wanting someone to talk to. The older man noticed him and just looked at him.

"You lost or something kid?" Gohan pondered how to respond for a moment. If he'd really wanted to he could've just taken to the air and gotten his bearings that way had he gotten lost, but he really didn't want to scare any potential traveling mates away, so he said no, but that he didn't know his way around here all that well.

"Do you mind if I walk with you guys?" The older man shrugged.

"Whatever. Just don't get in our way kid. We don't have time to baby-sit you."

"You don't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself. Anyways, I'm Son Gohan, what are your names?" The older man opened his mouth to speak but was beaten to the punch by the kid.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha and the old man is Ero-Senin!" The older man's eye twitched and he bonked Naruto on the head with his fist. Naruto's hands immediately shot up to rub the quickly forming bump on his head. "What was that for?!"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?!" He exhaled and cleared his throat. "Anyways, you can either call me Jiraiya or Frog Hermit."

"Alright. Nice to meet you guys." Gohan turned back around and they resumed walking. "So, you're his teacher?" Once again, Jiraiya wasn't given a chance to respond.

"Yeah! We're looking for a new Hokage for Konoha, but he said he's gonna teach me a new technique along the way." Gohan's eyes widened. This could be just what he needed for his training.

"So, are you guys martial artists?" They both gave him funny looks.

"You must be from pretty far away kid. We're shinobi."

"I see. Actually, I do come from pretty far away."

"So what's a kid like you doing so far away from home by yourself?"

"Well, I need to train and become stronger but I can't when I'm at home cause my mom wants me to study all the time. I managed to train a little bit here and there but it just wasn't enough so I took off for a while, which takes me to a question. I'd like to know if you'd train me as well. I'm a pretty fast learner and I know how to take care of myself if any enemies attack." Naruto instantly took to the idea.

"That'd be awesome! Can he come with us Ero-Senin?!"

"No! Since he's not a shinobi then he doesn't have any knowledge of chakra and I don't have time to teach him all of that! We've got a new Hokage to find and you want to learn that new technique don't you?"

"Jiraiya sir, could you give me a demonstration of this...chakra?"

"Well, if it'll make you realize how complicated chakra is, I guess I can show you. Naruto, you should pay attention as well because this is the technique I'm going to teach you. It's called the rasengan." The stopped walking and Jiraiya turned around to face them. He held a palm up in front of his face and formed a swirling ball of energy in it. He let it dissipate and turned back around. They resumed their walking. "Now then, do you really think you could learn something like that quickly enough without even knowing what chakra is?"

"Actually, I do. I can do similar things to that." He saw a medium sized boulder sitting off to the side of the road and stopped. He pointed his palm at it and with a bright flash of light the boulder exploded. Naruto stared at him in shock, but Jiraiya just looked at him in a contemplating manner. "It looks to me like chakra isn't too much different from ki.

"So you're a ki user huh? I haven't seen one of them in a long time. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to let you tag along with us then."

"Ero-Senin, what's ki?"

"Well Naruto, as you know chakra is a mixture of physical and spiritual energy. Well, ki is just the physical half of that. Ki and Chakra are very different in nature, as chakra can be used for many different kinds of techniques, where ki is mostly used as an explosive force."

"I also have some training with spiritual energy sir. My Dad taught me a technique called the Kaio-ken, which uses a person's spiritual energy to greatly enhance their abilities." Jiraiya stopped and gaped at Gohan in awe.

"The fist of the gods? I've heard of that technique but it was only supposed to be a myth. How did your Dad know such a technique."

"Well, that's something I'd rather not get into right now. My Dad died a year and a half ago."

"Hmmm...touchy subject is it?" Gohan simply nodded his head, but something was bothering Jiraiya. While it seemed that the boy was not being deceptive, there also seemed to be some things that he was withholding for some reason or another. Ah well, he'd find out sooner or later. The three went on their way with few words, not knowing that they were being watched from afar.

Farther away from the path, two figures wearing black cloaks with patterns of red clouds watched as the trio made their way to Otafuku. One of the figures, a grey man that resembled a shark, spoke.

"Perhaps you can fight him evenly, but I cannot. He's too strong."

"Yes. If we both fought him, we would both be killed. Or if we got lucky, we would kill him, but die with him anyways. Even with more men, the result would be the same." His partner, kneeling next to him, looked fairly normal save for his blood red eyes with three tear shaped marks in each one.

"His caretaker is a legendary Sanin, and judging from what that other kid they met up with just did, he may be a threat as well."

"Yes, but all strong opponents have a weakness." Neither one said another word as they wathced the trio fade into the distance.

Meanwhile, at the Son residence...

Chichi had woken up a bit late this morning, and was rushing to get breakfast started for Gohan when she realized that he wasn't up yet. This struck her as odd because no matter what he was always awake before she was, usually outside doing some kind of training until it came time for him to eat. This morning however, she hadn't heard so much as a yell coming from outside. She walked towards the front door and when she passed the table she noticed a piece of paper taped to it. She picked it up off the table but quickly wished she hadn't. Slipping the paper in her pocket she rushed to the bathroom and pulled her hair back into a bun, having not had a chance to fix it yet. She then hurried into Goten's room and snatched him out of his crib and ran outside.

"Kinto-un!" She called out to the legendary cloud and within moments it was there, waiting for her to hop on. She hurriedly jumped on and sat down. "Take us to Kami's lookout as fast as you can!" Within seconds the yellow cloud was flying towards the lookout at speeds rivaling the fastest supersonic jet.

It only took about five to ten minutes for them to reach the lookout and Chichi jumped off the cloud the second it stopped.

"Piccolo! Get your green rear over here now!" A few moments later a rather grumpy Piccolo came out of the palace to confront the chore he'd been expecting since Gohan had left.

"Woman! Don't come up here yelling like that! Have some respect!" Chichi didn't even bother retorting and stormed up to him and handed him the note that Gohan had left for her. Piccolo took it and looked it over for a moment before handing it back.

"I was wondering if he'd left you a note. That's just like him." Chichi narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"You knew about this?"

"Of course I knew, this was the first place he came to after leaving home." Chichi turned a dangerous shade of red and Piccolo knew what was coming next.

"You let him go?! What were you thinking?! This is all you fault! I always told Gohan not to hang around you and now look at what he's done!"

"Of course I let him go! Gohan's a young man who can take care of himself now! He doesn't need you babying him!"

"I'm trying to do what's best for him!" Piccolo laughed at her.

"Do you even care what's best for the boy? Do you even know what he wants? You've been so busy smothering him with studying that you haven't even noticed how unhappy he's been! Frankly I'm proud of him. It's about time he decided to do something he felt needed done instead of letting you crush him under foot with your dreams." Chichi growled at him angrily and stormed back over to the flying nimbus while trying to calm a crying Goten down.

"This is not over Piccolo, not by a long shot. You can count on Gohan not coming back here anymore."

"We'll see about that. That decision is for Gohan to make, not you."

"Alright Kinto-un, take us to capsule corporation." The cloud puttered in response and took off at top speed. Piccolo sighed exasperatedly.

"You know, it's times like this that I actually feel sorry for the boy." He said to no one in particular.

After about half an hour of flight, Nimbus finally arrived at Capsule Corp and touched down on the front lawn. Chichi hurried up to the front door and rang the doorbell. After about two minutes the door opened to reveal an irate Vegeta who glared at her.

"What do you want banshee? I'm in the middle of eating. He growled a little bit but turned around. "WOMAN! GET OVER HERE AND TALK TO THE BANSHEE!" He walked back into the house and disappeared around a corner. A few moments later Bulma appeared at the door and beckoned Chichi in. Bulma led her to the living room and they sat down on the couch.

"What's up Chich? You look stressed." Chichi wordlessly reached into her pocket and pulled out the note, handing it to Bulma. Her eyes widened in shock upon reading it.

"That's not like him."

"I know. I went to see that green beast Piccolo and he already knew about it. He didn't even bother trying to stop him from leaving! And then he had the nerve to try and tell me that I'm not doing what's best for Gohan!" Bulma merely nodded her head, pretending to agree with Chichi. Secretly though, she applauded Gohan for what he'd done. Everyone that knew the Son family saw how overprotective Chichi was of her firstborn.

"Well, I can try to get Vegeta to go look for him. From the way it sounds though, he's gonna make it difficult for anyone to find him."

"We can call those friends of Goku's. Let them make themselves useful for a change." Once again Bulma pretended to agree with Chichi. She wouldn't dare mention how those "useless" friends of Goku's had helped save the world before as that would only get Chichi mad. When she got like this, it was usually best to just go along with whatever she said for the sake of your ears and the ears of everyone within a few miles of your area.

"Oh Vegeeeetaaaaa! Could you come here please?" It wasn't long before Vegeta showed up, grumbling about women and keeping him from training.

"What do you want woman? I'm supposed to be training right now!" Bulma just rolled her eyes.

"It seems that Gohan has decided to run away from home for a little while to train." Vegeta just stared at the women for a moment before bursting out laughing.

"It's about time that brat did something! If he'd stayed the way he was he would've wasted away into nothing. A true Saiya-jin needs to train!" Chich was about to blow up at him but Bulma put a hand up to silence her.

"Yes well, you're going to help find him and bring him back." Vegeta's humored attitude suddenly vanished and was replaced by a scowl.

"You must be out of your tree woman! What's that brat have to do with me?!"

"Well," She said sweetly. "If you don't help find him, you're going to sleep on the couch for a week." Vegeta paled considerably at this. "You won't be looking alone, I'm going to enlist the help of some of the others." Vegeta growled.

"Bah! Do whatever you want!" With that he headed for the door, but stopped when Chichi called out to him. and took off upon stepping outside. He turned his head to see her.

"I want my boy back." The look she was giving him caused him to smirk.

"Very well then. This should make things interesting." Having said that he headed out the door and took flight.

"Isn't that a bit much Chichi? I mean, it's not like he's never coming back..."

"I don't care. It's easy for you to just say that because Vegeta's never died on you. It's hard enough losing Goku, but now Gohan?" her eyes welled up with unshed tears and her voice cracked. "I want my baby back." Bulma just pulled Chichi into an embrace and let her cry on her shoulder. After about five minutes she pulled away and sighed.

"Alright Chichi I'll go call the others, but I want you to think about something. Gohan feels that he has a very big responsibility on his shoulders now that Goku's gone, and judging from that letter it looks like he feels that you're holding him back from fulfilling that." She stood up, walked into the kitchen and picked up the phone. She dialed the number for Roshi's island and let it ring three times before it was picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Krillin. Listen, Chichi and I need your help with something."

Oh boy, seems Gohan is gonna have some trouble if he's found. The question remains though, will they be able to take him back without a fight? Read the next chapter to find out.


	2. Chapter 2

"So what exactly are you trying to get out of this little trip of yours Gohan?" Jiraiya asked as he ate a light snack. After walking for a few miles, the three travelers stopped to take a short break and Jiraiya was hoping to take this opportunity to learn a few things about Gohan. The boy came across as honest, yet Jiraiya could tell there were many secrets the boy was keeping, and he had a feeling they were important.

"Well, right now learning new techniques is just fine, but I'm hoping that just maybe I can find someone with enough skill to give me a good challenge and help me become more powerful. Where I come from, there's really only one person that can give me a challenge and that's only if I don't go all out. Actually, I'd like to learn a little bit about where you guys come from as well, like what a Hokage is for example." The sound of bells ringing behind them elicited a roll of the eyes from Jiraiya.

"Cut that out Naruto." Naruto just ignored him and continued playing with the two large bells that were hanging just inside the entrance to the small shrine they'd stopped at. Jiraiya turned his attention back to Gohan. "I'm just a wandering hermit, I don't really come from anywhere. Naruto comes from the shinobi village of Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves. We really don't have the time to go in depth about the geography or nations of this area, but I'll just tell you that the majority of this area is ruled by villages that use ninja as their military and main source of revenue and that Konoha is the most powerful of these villages. As for what a Hokage is, each village has a leader and protector which is called a Kage. The Kage of a village is the most powerful ninja in that village. The title for that Kage depends on the nation in which the village resides. Konoha resides in the fire nation so the title for their Kage is Hokage which means fire shadow." There was a ruckus as Naruto lost his balance and tumbled down the stairs, getting tangled up in the bells as he went. Jiraiya just chuckled at him.

"Serves you right, now get out of there and fix it."

"I would but it's tangled too tightly." Gohan got up from sitting next to Jiraiya and walked over to Naruto.

"This is gonna make you kinda dizzy, are you ready?" Naruto just nodded and braced himself. Gohan took hold of the ribbons that were attached to the bells and gave them a mighty yank, lifting Naruto up off the ground and giving him a rapid spin. He wasn't in the air long before he fell, but it was long enough to make him unable to walk. He staggered to his feet but had to sit down on the steps and wait for his balance to come back.

"Alright brat, quit screwing around and help get those back up. It's time for us to get moving." Naruto and Gohan quickly had the bells hanging back where they were and the three were back on the trail as soon as Naruto and Gohan each made a short prayer at the shrine.

After a few more hours of walking, they finally entered Otafuku city, which was large and full of activity. Everywhere they looked there were hotels and vendors and entertainers and many people just going about their daily business. They stopped at a hotel and Jiraiya arranged for a room for all three of them. Naruto of course didn't like this arrangement.

"Why do we need to stay here? I can still walk."

"Now now, you must always do as your Sensei tells you."

"I just want to learn the new technique."

"Which is exactly what makes you my apprentice." All three of them were distracted when an attractive woman walked into the hotel and winked at them. Jiraiya was quick to give Naruto the key to their room. "Here's the keys. Go to our room, mold chakra, train and go to sleep." He was gone before another word could be said.

"Get back here you perverted sage!" Naruto's yells went unheard as Jiraiya was already out of earshot.

"Guess it's just you and me now Naruto. Let's go to our room and meditate or something, that's what my Sensei was always doing." Naruto just led the way to their room while grumbling about lazy perverted hermits. When they got to their room they were a little disappointed.

"It's only got two beds. I guess one of us is gonna have to sleep on the floor."

"You can have the bed Naruto. I expected to be sleeping outdoors anyways, so sleeping on the floor won't be a problem."

"You sure about that?" Gohan just nodded and sat on a bed. Naruto sat on the bed next to it and both sat in relaxing poses, Naruto molding chakra and Gohan meditating. After they'd been doing this for two hours there was a knock at the door. Naruto was the first to get up and walk to the door.

"What he's already been dumped and decided to come back?"

"Wait Naruto, that's not Jiraiya, it's an enemy and there's two of them!" Naruto looked at Gohan quizzically.

"How do you know?"

"Just trust me. We're gonna have to be ready when you open that door." Gohan ducked behind the bed nearest the door and waited for Naruto to open it. He heard the key turn and the door open and then for a minute...nothing. After that minute however, an unfamiliar voice spoke three words.

"Let's go outside." Gohan took this as his cue and launched himself up and over the bed and thrust his fist at the face of the man in the doorway only to have the man turn to the side, grab his fist and slam him into the wall behind him. He quickly rolled away and shot back to his feet, instantly getting into a fighting stance.

"I don't know who you are but you'd better leave now. I don't want to have to fight you." Gohan took a moment to look his opponents over. Both men were tall and wore the same black cloaks with red clouds on them but that's where any similarities ended. One of the men was mostly normal looking with black hair and a headband much like the one Naruto wore only with a gouge through the leaf symbol. His eyes were different though. Gohan gave an involuntary shudder when he looked into those blood red eyes. The other man looked totally odd and would've surprised Gohan if he didn't know any green people. The other guy was grey and resembled a humanoid shark, complete with lots of sharp looking teeth. The grey one laughed.

"It's kinda late to be worrying about that don't you think kid? It'd be troublesome if you got in our way so I think I'll cut your arms off. He stepped forward and put his hand on the handle of what could only be a sword that was sticking out of the back of his cloak. He turned his head to look at his partner however when he began to speak.

"It's been a long time...Sasuke." Sensing an opening, Gohan jumped at the shark-man and slammed a fist into his jaw, nearly knocking him into his partner who jumped forward just in time. Gohan didn't waste a second and jumped into a spin kick only to have it caught and used to toss him at the new person standing at the end of the hall. He ducked as Gohan sailed over his head and into the wall. The boy scowled down at Gohan.

"Stay out of this, it's my fight."

"That little brat! I'm gonna chop you to pieces for that!" He pulled a large sword that was covered in cloth out of his cloak and unwrapped it, revealing a sword almost as large as him that was covered in jagged spines. He raised his sword up and started charging at them but his partner stopped him.

"That's enough. If you hadn't let your guard down it wouldn't have happened." He just growled and wrapped his sword back up before sticking it back in his cloak.

"Now then. To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit, Sasuke?"

"Uchiha Itachi! I'm going to kill you!" He hunched forward a bit and cupped his palm, an orb of what appeared to be pure electricity forming in his hand that sounded like the chirping of a thousand birds.

"Like you said I've hated you, detested you, and just to kill you...I've survived!" He slammed the orb into the wall and ran at Itachi, tearing a huge gouge in the wall as he went. "I'm going to kill you!" Once he got right up to Itachi he thrust the orb at him, but Itachi deflected his arm to the side, causing his attack to blow a huge hole in the wall. Grabbing Sasuke's arm, Itachi squeezed it until it broke. Sasuke screamed in pain and fell to his knees. Naruto was quickly becoming worried at how the situation was turning out.

"This isn't good, I've gotta do something." A red aura began forming around him and he made a few hand signs. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

"Too slow!" Itachi's partner whipped out his still wrapped up sword and sliced into Naruto's aura, effectively dissipating it.

"What the hell was that?!" He tried gathering more chakra but none would come.

"Sorry to break it to ya, but this is Itachi's fight so I'm not gonna let you interfere. My Samehada shaves and eats chakra for lunch so you might as well just sit back and enjoy the show." Gohan had seen enough however and launched himself at Itachi and managed to land a surprise spinning kick to his side, launching him through the hole in the wall. He then thrust his cupped palms forward and with a shout blew Itachi's partner back to the other end of the hall.

"H...hey!" a gasp of pain came from the floor next to him. "I said stay out of this! If you attack him again I'll kill you!" Gohan looked down at Sasuke with pity.

"You know, you're a lot like someone I know. You clearly weren't in control of the situation so..." Gohan was rudely and painfully cut off as a fist was suddenly implanted in his cheek hard enough to knock him into, and through the other wall.

"Come on Kisame, you take care of the kyuubi boy and I'll finish with Sasuke. We've wasted enough time here. Kisame stalked back to Naruto from the end of the hallway and raised his sword to knock him out. Naruto crossed his arms over his head as Kisame brought his sword down but he was stopped with a puff of smoke. The smoke cleared away to reveal a rather large frog blocking the sword with its arms. Shortly thereafter another puff of smoke appeared only this time Jiraiya appeared holding the woman that had distracted him over his shoulder.

"You guys don't know me very well. You can't just distract me with a woman's beauty like that. Once you're as great as I am the women just come flocking to you. He'd been grinning, but now his face turned serious. "That was low of you, to use a woman to distract me and separate me from Naruto." He bent over and gently set her down on the floor. Kisami laughed.

"You are one of the legendary Sannin after all. I didn't expect for a genjutsu like that to hold you off for too long." Gohan, having recovered, flew back in through the new hole he'd made in the wall. Jiraiya looked at him for a second then back to Itachi.

"So, you really are after Naruto."

"Hmmm...so you're the one who told Kakashi-san. We are under orders from our organization, Akatsuki, to retrieve Naruto-kun."

"I can't let you have Naruto."

"We'll see about that..."

"Very well. I'll get rid of you two here then." Sasuke then began struggling to his feet.

"Don't interfere. I'm the one who's going to kill him!" Itachi looked down at him.

"I have no interest in you right now." An enraged Sasuke charged at Itachi, but he side kicked him and sent him flying backwards into the end of the hall." Naruto tried to rush to Sasuke's aid, but was stopped short.

"I told you not to interfere! I'm going to do this without your help!" He got back to his feet and rushed towards Itachi at top speed, only to have a fist planted in his gut and then backhanded with such force that it sent him spiralling back to the end of the hall once more.

"I'm not done yet." Sasuke weakly groaned out. Itachi, having had enough, decided to end it.

"Very well." He began stalking towards a battered Sasuke. Jiraiya moved to intercept him, but Kisami got in his way and readied his sword to attack.

"This is between those two. Let's not interfere." Gohan was becoming more and more anxious as Itachi slowly made his way over to Sasuke, and when he'd made it over to him and was kneeling in front of him, Gohan made his move. With startling speed, Gohan seemingly phased out of existence before Itachi found himself flat on his back. He rolled over and got back to his feet to see Gohan standing between him and Sasuke.

"Hmmmm...Am I going to have to kill you to get you out of my way?" Gohan just scowled at him.

"I've seen enough. There's no point in continuing this when he can't even fight back!"

"St...stay out of this! This is my fight!" Sasuke called out weakly from behind him. Gohan shot him a glare, at the same time allowing his eyes to flash teal, stunning Sasuke into silence.

"What's your problem?! Can't you tell when you're beaten?" He returned his attention to Itachi but suddenly found himself paralyzed upon looking into his eyes. Suddenly everything around him seemed to distort and go off color, and Itachi's voice spoke in his mind.

"You have an interesting mind Son Gohan." Gohan gasped.

"You can read minds?"

"I can do much more than that. Observe." Everything distorted even further until there was nothing but fuzziness in Gohan's vision, until everything slowly came back into focus, except something was different. He suddenly found himself in a familiar area that looked like it had once been a mountain range, but was now nothing more than an enormous crater. Looking off to his right he could see a small group of people that seemed to be watching something. He looked to the left and saw himself in front of a tall grasshopper looking person.

"Cell!" Itachi materialized in front of him.

"In the world of Tsukuyomi I control time, space and even the mass of objects. For the next twenty four hours you will wander hopelessly through that day. Itachi disappeared and Gohan saw his other self begin to beat Cell senseless. He could hear his friends plead with him to just finish Cell off now but had to watch with horror as he continued torturing Cell physically and mentally until he bloated himself up and threatened to explode. Then he had to watch as his father stepped in and teleported himself and Cell away, allowing Cell to blow up another planet. Then he had to witness Cell coming back and killing Trunks and then severely injuring himself when he stepped between Cell's blast and Vegeta. After that the scence skipped to Kami's lookout with the eternal dragon, Shenron, towering over the group of people who had summoned him. Gohan then had to relive the moment when his father refused to be wished back to life. Then it started over again.

On the outside, Gohan let out a scream of agonized despair and slumped to the ground. Kisami chuckled at the sight.

"Being cruel as usual I see. You used Tsukuyomi on that boy didn't you?"

"Hn. I must kill him now. He is much too strong for us to allow him to live." He knelt down and grabbed Gohan around the throat and lifted him into the air, slowly applying pressure." Jiraiya quickly formed several handsigns and the walls of the hotel were suddenly replaced with a fleshy substance.

"Ninpou Gamaguchi shibari!" A tendril of the substance lashed out and whipped Itachi's arm, causing him to drop Gohan. The floor then allowed both him and Sasuke to sink in, leaving only their faces uncovered." Jiraiya smirked at Itachi and Kisame.

"You two are out of luck now. You're inside my stomach. I summoned the esophagus of a gigantic frog from the Myouboku Mountain's rock inn. You'll become food for this rock frog." Itachi narrowed his eyes.

"Kisami, come." Kisami didn't need to be told twice and struggled to move as some of the flesh had wrapped around his ankles. Once he'd freed himself he fought to free the Samehada which was even more stuck than he'd been. Both ninjas took flight as soon as he had his sword free."

"It's useless. Nobody has ever escaped this technique before." Jiraiya squeezed part of the floor and the flesh began trying to constrict around the two fleeing ninjas, though they just barely kept ahead of it. Kisami whirled around and sliced apart several tendrils of flesh that came after him and Itachi before turning and running as four more raced after him. The wall quickly caught up with and passed them up, closing up any chance they had of escaping. There was a rumble and Naruto and Jiraiya ran to where the hole was that the two had tried to escape through, and found that the wall of flesh had been burned through with black fire. They approached it and Naruto leaned in close to inspect it.

"What's with this black flame?"

"Don't touch it!" Naruto jumped back at his sensei's urgent tone. "This isn't just ordinary fire. A rock frog breathes fire and yet this black flame burned it's internal flesh." Jiraiya pulled out a scroll and pen and began writing symbols and letters on it with arrows pointing in a circle in the middle. He put the pen down and formed some hand seals.

"Fuuinjutsu Fuukahouin!" He slammed his palm on the ground and a blue smoke arose from the scroll and enveloped the flames, causing them to disappear. It then retreated back into the scroll and a symbol formed inside the circle, the arrows having disappeared.

"Alright, now we have to look at Sasuke and Gohan." He stomped once, dispelling the technique. They walked over to Sasuke and Gohan, and Naruto knelt next to them. Jiraiya was looking at Gohan for any physical signs of injury when a kunai stuck into the wall in front of him, missing him by only inches.

"Dynamic Entry!" Jiraiya's eyes widened at the figure flying through the air towards him with a leg extended for a flying kick.

"Gai!" Was all Jiraiya could get out before a foot smashed into his face and sent him flying backwards. The ninja, who'd had a smirk on his face due to his surprise attack, lost all of his steam when he noticed who he'd hit. At seeing the peeved look on Jiraiya's face, he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry about that, I was hiding out and I forgot my mirror so I had to use my forehead protector to see but it was blurry and I mistook your rugged face for an enemy." Jiraiya's eye twitched.

"You call that an apology?" Gai laughed nervously.

"Well, I'm not good with words..."

"Forget about it. Get these two boys to a medical squad. Sasuke here has a broken arm and ribs, and the other boy, Gohan, took a psychological attack from an eye technique and is unconscious." Gai raised an eyebrow at seeing Gohan.

"Who is that boy?"

"Like I said, his name is Gohan. We met up with him on our way to Otafuku and I've decided to teach him, but he got in the way when Itachi attacked Sasuke."

"Ero-Senin, do you think Gohan will be okay?" Jiraiya looked grim.

"I don't know. It looks like he took a heavy amount of psychological damage." Naruto lowered his eyes to the floor, wishing there was something he could do for his new friend. Gai picked Gohan up and hoisted him over his shoulder, and only received a protest when he tried to do the same with Sasuke.

"I can walk on my own." He staggered to his feet, walked two steps and collapsed out of sheer exhaustion. He growled at his weakness when Gai hoisted him over his other shoulder. Naruto clenched his fist in anger and growled.

"Damn! What did that Bastard do to Gohan? I was scared before, but if it was me they're after, I'll just take the fight to them!" Jiraiya just snorted.

"You'd just get yourself killed. They're far above your level right now."

"So we just run and hide from them?! You want me to just cower in fear from them every day?!"

"Enough!" Jiraiya's outburst got Naruto to be quiet. "You are weak." He turned to Gai. "I'm sorry Gai, I was trying to consider Sasuke's feelings, but I should've stepped in sooner."

"Kakashi was hit by that same technique as that Gohan boy, and is now unconscious. We don't know when he'll wake up." All three were quiet for a moment, each pondering the situation. "When a young person gets injured, it makes me wish that she was here, the medical specialist."

"That's why we're going to look for her." Gai's eyes widened in surprise.

"You mean, you're going to get...her?" Jiraiya smirked.

"That's right. Another Sanin like me, the woman with the word gamble on her back, Tsunade-hime! Anyways, we'd better be going Gai. Take care of Gohan and Sasuke for us." Gai just nodded before turning and running off in the direction of Konoha.

Well that's it for chapter two. I hope you enjoyed it, and even if you didn't, please review anyways and tell me what I did wrong. Constructive criticism is what helps an author get better.

Ps: I know you all were expecting Vegeta and some of the others to come after Gohan, but from the pace this story is going I don't expect that to come for another couple of chapters yet, say about chapter 4.


	3. Chapter 3

Just one thing before I start the chapter. I'm gonna try and put a character's thoughts in single quotes from now on in order to help avoid confusion with actual spoken words.

On Kami's lookout high above the clouds, Piccolo growled. Recent events with Gohan's mother had bothered him greatly, knowing that even now Tien, Yamcha, Krillin and even Vegeta were hunting the boy down to try to convince him to return home. Of course, if it was Vegeta that found him the boy would probably end up unconscious, but from what he'd heard while spying on them from outside the capsule corp, Chichi didn't care how Gohan came back. He growled again.

"That foolish woman! Doesn't she ever think about what Gohan wants?"

"Isn't she just doing what she thinks is best for Gohan, sir?"

"Yes Dende, that's exactly what she thinks she's doing. What she needs to realize however is that Gohan must be allowed to make his own choices. He is not a defenseless baby anymore." Piccolo strode over to the edge of the lookout and peered down at the earth through a nearly cloudless sky. "She isn't just doing what she thinks is best for him though. I can tell every time I see her look at him that deep down, even though she loves him, she hates what he is. That's why she forces him to study all the time. She's afraid he'll end up like Vegeta or one of the other Saiya-jins that came before. It's pathetic really, that she has so little faith in the boy..." Piccolo made a sudden sharp intake of breath and whirled around to face Dende with wide, horrified eyes. "Gohan..." Dende quickly grew concerned. Piccolo rarely showed so much emotion, and when he did it was almost never a good thing.

"Piccolo? What's wrong? Did something happen to Gohan?" Piccolo collected himself and he took on a more serious look.

"Gohan's been attacked and is in a coma." It was now Dende's turn to widen his eyes in horror.

"How can that be? Nobody on Earth has that kind of power! We would've sensed a power big enough to hurt Gohan!" Piccolo shook his head.

"It wasn't a physical attack, it was a mental attack." Piccolo sat on the ground, crossed his legs and relaxed.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to try to contact him through our bond. Hopefully I can help him out of whatever trouble he's in." Piccolo cleared his mind and focused on Gohan. Soon, he could feel that he'd linked the boy's mind with his own. He was intrigued to find that he was now in a familiar rocky area with a familiar group of warriors. To his left stood Goku who, upon close inspection, seemed to be almost panicking.

"Gohan! Finish him off now! Don't play around with him!." Gohan, who was busy beating on a six and a half foot tall grasshopper looking creature that could only be Cell, looked in their direction.

"No. I want to make him suffer a little." Gohan then returned his attention to Cell.

"Now, where were we?" That's when Piccolo heard it or rather, him.

"No, wait! Just kill him! Stop!!! He'll kill Dad!!!!!" Piccolo had to strain to see him, but watching the fight from the opposite side of himself and the others, was a transparent Gohan. Piccolo levitated off the ground and floated over to the ghostly Gohan.

"Gohan?" Surprised, Gohan jumped a bit and looked up at Piccolo.

"Piccolo? You can see me?" The Namek only nodded.

"How?"

"Because I'm no more a part of this memory than you are. What's happened to you Gohan?"

"What...happened?" Gohan's face scrunched up as he tried to force himself to remember how he'd gotten to where he was.

"Oh! I met up with a couple of fighters and one of them said he'd teach me a new technique, but when I was in our hotel room with Naruto, his student, some guy named Itachi showed up and tried to kidnap him. We had a short fight and then this guy named Sasuke showed up and tried fighting Itachi. He was losing pretty bad so I tried to step in but when I looked into Itachi's eyes I ended up here. He said this place was called Tsukiyomi and that he controlled time, space and the mass of objects here and then he said that I'd spend 24 hours repeating this day."

"What? He did this to you just by looking you in the eyes? He must be pretty powerful to get through your mental defenses that easily."

"I...didn't have time to react. One second everything was okay and the next I was here." Piccolo put his hands out towards Gohan.

"Take my hands and clear your mind." Gohan did as he was told. He took Piccolo's hands in his own and closed his eyes, concentrating on completely erasing all thoughts.

"Good. Now, I want you to focus on your body. Think of returning to your body. Don't think of anything else but getting back control of your body." Gohan nodded and before long he began to flicker in and out of his mindscape. He flickered faster and faster and after about five minutes disappeared altogether, leaving Piccolo alone with bad memories.

"Hmph! Living through that once was enough. It's time for me to get out of here." The next second, Piccolo was gone.

Piccolo opened his eyes to see the familiar background of the lookout. He stood up and saw that Dende was staring at him anxiously.

"Gohan's going to be fine. I'm worried though. He said he just looked into his attacker's eyes and that's all it took. Someone with those kinds of abilities should not be taken lightly." Dende nodded solemnly and headed into the palace. He had some paperwork to do for King Yemma.

Gohan opened his eyes and saw white. Lots and lots of white. He looked around and saw that he was in what appeared to be some sort of hospital room. He sat up quickly but regretted it when he was rewarded with a pounding headache.

"Oh, you're awake?" Gohan looked to his immediate right and saw a pink haired girl sitting in a chair next to his bed. He looked at her oddly. Not only did he not know this girl but he'd never seen anyone with pink hair before. Before Gohan could ask who she was, the girl introduced herself.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. What is your name?"

"I'm Son Gohan." There was a brief moment where neither one of them said anything, but Gohan was the first to break the silence.

"Not that I mind having company, but why are you here? I don't even know you." Sakura graced him with a friendly smile.

"Because you saved Sasuke-kun and I wanted to thank you. I also wanted to apologize for what you had to go through to do it." Gohan just chuckled a bit, amused that she would apologize for such a thing.

"It's okay. It's not the first time I've been hospitalized after a fight. Anyways, how is Sasuke doing? Last time I saw him he was pretty beat up."

"He'll be okay. He's just gotta stay in the hospital for a few weeks to let his broken bones heal and then he can go back to his normal routine." Gohan smiled and laid his head back down on his pillow.

"I'm glad. He isn't too mad though is he? I mean, he didn't like the fact that I got between him and that Itachi guy." Sakura grimaced as she remembered a nurse having to sedate Sasuke as he literally tried to crawl out the door so he could find and kill the guy who'd stopped his revenge. The nurse had tried to take him back peacefully, but after being thrown to the floor a couple times she just ended up injecting him with a tranquilizer.

"Well, let's just say it would probably be in your best interest to avoid being around him for a while." Gohan put his arm behind his head and grinned nervously.

"He's that mad huh? Well, Once he's healed I'll have to fight him and let him get it out of his system." Gohan uncovered himself to find that he was wearing a hospital gown instead of his purple gi and weighted cape. "Uhhhh...where are my clothes?"

"You can't leave yet. Someone's gotta check on you to make sure there wasn't any permanent damage to your mind. That was a very powerful psychological attack you went through." Gohan shook his head fervently. The last thing he needed was someone examining his mind. There were just too many things he didn't want people to know. Sakura put her hands on her hips and gave Gohan a determined look. No way in hell was this guy leaving before the medics declared him ready.

"This isn't debatable Son Gohan! You're going to stay here until the medics say you can even if I have to tie you to the bed, and don't think that I wouldn't!" Gohan took a good look around the room and saw a closet on his left that was right by the entrance to the room. He smirked and before Sakura could even blink he'd disappeared and then reappeared in front of the closet. Sakura moved to stop him but he just pointed his fingers at her and a few rings of energy flew out of his fingertips and knocked her into the wall, pinning her arms and legs to said wall. She gasped in surprise and struggled against her bonds only to find that they would neither break or budge.

"Hey, let me go!" Gohan chuckled at her predicament.

"Don't worry, I'll let you out once I'm far away enough that you won't be able to drag me back here. I've got too many things that I can't just let people know about me, so letting someone scan my mind is out of the question." Gohan turned around and rummaged through the closet looking for his clothes. He found them and grabbed them and his backpack as he scanned the hallway for anyone that might be out there to catch him. Once he was certain it was safe, he opened the door and walked out into the hall to find a bathroom to change in. He sensed someone about to walk out into the hallway so he hurriedly snuck into the nearest room. This room proved to be an exact copy of his with a closet to his right and the bed at the back of the room with a couple of chairs for guests and a window above and behind the head of the bed. This room was occupied by an unconscious man with silver colored hair. Gohan walked over to him and noticed that he wore a mask over his mouth and his hitai-ate covered his left eye. His energy was fluctuating wildly, leaving Gohan to surmise that either he was having a bad dream or he'd suffered an attack on his mind as well. Hearing voices outside the door caused Gohan to tense, listening for the voices to approach and hopefully walk past the door. No such luck. The voices stopped at the door and someone grabbed the knob and began to turn it. Panicking, Gohan crossed his forearms over his head and leapt through the window, allowing the ki bonds he'd placed on Sakura to dissipate as he fell. An unfamiliar male voice called out to him as he hit the ground running, but he didn't stop until he was in the midst of a crowd of people walking the streets of whatever town he was in. Not wanting to draw too much attention, but already having received many stares due to his hospital garb forced Gohan to frantically search for a place to change into his normal clothes. He found a space wide enough for one person in between two buildings and decided that was the best he could do. Gohan looked around to make sure nobody was following him and ran across the busy street and ducked into the space.

Gohan emerged two minutes later once again sporting his purple gi, weighted cape and backpack. He smiled at finally being out of those hospital clothes and having escaped without causing too much of a ruckus. The same male voice from the hospital called out to him again, though this time it was joined by Sakura's voice. Gohan groaned inwardly. If he didn't lose these people they'd try to force him back to the hospital and he just didn't think they'd understand or react too well to the idea of evil aliens and planet trades or the fact that he was one of those aliens, despite not being evil. Rather than run though, he decided it would be best to try and reason with Sakura and whoever was with her first as he didn't want to seem too suspicious. He waited about five minutes and finally they caught up with him, Sakura glaring and the man, dressed in an odd green jump suit just gave him a look of concern. Sakura stepped forward and slapped him across the face, turning his head to the side not out of any display of great strength but more because the action surprised him. Even though it didn't really hurt, he brought his hand up to the offended cheek and looked at her, confusion etched into his features.

"What was that for?"

"For sticking me to the wall and recklessly running away! What if there's something wrong with your mind?" Gohan shook his head.

"I've been trained to know mental attacks and their potential affects on a victim. I'd know if something were wrong with me."

"And what if the enemy implanted something into your mind to make you attack Konoha?" Gohan blinked in surprise. So he was in Naruto's village eh? He took a look around and that's when he saw the damage. The village was a disaster area, with most of the buildings he could see having sustained various levels of damage, from missing roof tiles to being completely caved in. Most of the people he could see milling about were either carrying food or some kind of building materials.

"What happened here?" Sakura had been about to yell at Gohan for not answering her but her face quickly took on a look of sadness.

"We were recently attacked by two enemy villages, the sand and the sound. We managed to drive them away but in the end they killed the Hokage among many others. That's why we need to be cautious and need to make sure the enemy didn't set you up to attack us. Konoha can't survive another attack."

"I'm sorry, but I just can't. If you guys found out the wrong things about me you could get the wrong idea and try to kill me. It's just best if my mind isn't tampered with any more than it already has been." Sakura's male companion took on a sneaky grin as an idea came to him.

"How about a little competition, Son Gohan? If I can beat you in a sparring match then you will go back and take the examination. However If you win you may go free and I will do ten laps around Konoha!" Gohan gave the man an odd look when he said the last part. From the looks of the village it was really big, and most people wouldn't be able to make one lap around it let alone ten. Sakura just rolled her eyes at the man's antics. Then something occurred to Gohan.

"Uhhhhh sir? How do you know my name?" The man just stared at him for a moment but then laughed.

"That's right, you were unconscious. I am the one that brought you and Sasuke-kun back to Konoha. I am Maito Gai, Konoha's Green Beast!" He gave a thumbs up and a toothy grin that was so shiny it nearly blinded everybody around them. After his eyes recovered, Gohan took a step back from Gai. The man was just a little too creepy for his tastes.

"Well, alright. As long as it's just a spar." Gai grinned at him.

"Alright then, just follow me." Gai took off at a run with Gohan and Sakura trailing behind him. After several minutes of running, they arrived at a training area that reached to the edge of a large wooded area. Gohan took a look around, noticing the woods and a few posts in the ground and a large lake, making for a peaceful setting.

"Where are we?" Gohan asked, in awe of the surrounding beauty.

"This is one of Konoha's many training grounds. This is where we will fight. Are you ready Son Gohan?" Gohan nodded and smirked in anticipation of the match. "Don't hold back, come at me with everything." Gai stood with one hand out, the back of his hand facing Gohan. "You may attack at any time." Gohan dropped into his own fighting stance and took a few moments to observe Gai before leaping towards him in a spinning kick. Gai ducked under it and dropped to his hands which he used to support himself as he kicked up at Gohan, hoping to catch him in the chin. Gohan saw it coming though and tucked his arms and legs in, effectively shielding himself. He didn't bother to stop his flight or descent and allowed himself to land on his back. He rolled over and pushed himself back up and smirked at Gai. He ran at him again, but this time instead of attacking stopped when they were only a few feet apart. Gohan began running in a circle around Gai, gradually speeding up until it seemed that there were several copies of Gohan surrounding him. Gai just studied the afterimages for a moment, trying to determine the best spot to attack.

"Here!" He lashed out with a fist only to have Gohan grab it and use it to swing himself into a kick which Gai barely managed to dodge, allowing Gohan to sail over him. Gohan hit the ground running and quickly spun around and came back at Gai only to have the man drop to his hands and spin around, nicking him on the face and sending him spiraling to the ground. Wasting not a second, Gohan jumped back to his feet and pointed an open palm at Gai. With a shout Gai let out a loud oomph as though he'd been punched in the gut and was blown onto his back. Gohan ran at him and jumped into the air to bring a leg down on him but he'd rolled out of the way so that Gohan only hit dirt, leaving a slight imprint of his leg. Gai suddenly became ecstatic.

"What an attack! You are truly a great example of the burning passion of youth! Now, let us sweat the sweat of our youths as we face each other in true combat! No more playing around, what do you say?" Gohan grinned. This guy was going to provide a good fight.

"Sounds good to me." Gohan cracked his knuckles and then his neck before going into some stretching exercises he'd been taught by his father. "Ready. Before we really start though, let me get rid of something." He took his backpack off, lifted his cape over his head and tossed them to a nearby Sakura, who'd been watching the fight with interest. Sakura tried to catch both but almost fell over from the weight of the cape so she dropped it, resulting in the cape slightly embedding itself in the ground. She stared at it with wide eyes. Gai's interest was piqued by the apparently weighted cape.

"So I see you use weights. An excellent way to train your body." Gohan nodded in agreement.

"My sensei wears the same thing except he wears a weighted turban as well, and my dad used to wear weighted clothes too."

"I see. Well, let's see how much your speed has improved." Gohan smirked and was suddenly at Gai's side, smashing a fist into his ribcage. Well, at least that's what would've happened had Gai not spun out of the way in an attempt to sweep Gohan's feet out from under him. Gohan's eyes widened in surprise and he jumped back. He hadn't expected Gai to be able to see his movements much less counter them. He didn't waste time thinking it over though and overlapped his hands on his forehead.

"Masenko-ha!" He shouted and thrust his palms in front of him. A large yellow wave of energy shot forth from his hands and slammed into Gai's chest, knocking him over. Gohan shot off to the left and faced Gai so that he was facing towards the lake, leaving his back to the forest. Gai was already on his feet and this time he was running at Gohan. He leapt into the air and repeated Gohan's first attack of a flying spinning kick, but Gohan brought up a forearm and blocked it. The force of the blow actually forcing him to take a step to the side to avoid being knocked over from Gai's momentum. Both fighters were shocked.

'How was he able to block it and stay on his feet? This boy is something else.'

'That hurt! How strong is he? I'm gonna have to try harder if I want to beat him!' Gohan jumped back several feet and crouched low, bring his arms to his sides.

"Well Gai, this has been fun but I guess I'm gonna have to bring out more power if I want to win. I've got to hand it to you, you're pretty strong. Yelling in concentration, Gohan reached deep into the well of power that resided within him, bringing it forth. He could feel it flowing through his veins, into every muscle and giving him strength. A slight breeze picked up as Gohan brought more and more power to the surface, though determined to limit how much he would use. Sakura and Gai were more than a little shocked when they could feel Gohan's chakra begin to spike. They could tell he had a lot before but this...this was just crazy! They could hear Gohan sigh as he finished his power up and observed Gai with a predatory grin. A split second later a fist hit him right below the ribcage and an open palm connected with the center of his chest, knocking him flat on his back. Gai didn't have time to react before Gohan had his fingers pointed at his throat like a knife edge. He gave Gai a pleasant smile. Gai smiled back at him. The boy may have bested him, but he'd been holding back. He'd wanted to test the boy's fighting skills and could see that his hand to hand combat technique was no less than superb. He'd allow Gohan this victory, but he could already imagine him wearing green spandex and orange leg warmers as he sparred with an energetic Lee. The fantasy brought tears to the eccentric jounin's eyes. This taijutsu genius should be his new pupil!

"So, do you yield?"

Well there we go, another day another chapter. I hope this was enjoyable, though I'm not too sure about the fight scene. Perhaps I made it a little too short? Ah well, just tell me what you think.


	4. Chapter 4

"Very well young Gohan, I admit defeat. You are an exceptional fighter for one so young. How long have you been in training?" Gohan stopped to think for a moment.

"Well, I've been training since I was four years old so i guess that would make it about seven years." This statement surprised Gai and totally astonished Sakura. This guy was training since he was four?! This brought many questions to their minds, but judging from the look on Gohan's face it would be best for those questions to remain unanswered for the moment.

"Well, I must join you two later. I must now run ten laps around Konoha. If I can't do that, I'll do five hundred sit-ups!" Without another word Gai took off for the edge of Konoha to begin his torturous run. Gohan just blinked at him.

"You mean...he was serious when he said that?" Sakura just rolled her eyes at the man's antics and nodded as she handed Gohan his backpack.

"Yeah, he does weird stuff like that all the time. It's part of his training I guess. His student Lee does stuff like that too. Those two are just creepy sometimes, especially those eyebrows they have."

"Heh. I'll just...take your word for it. By the way, do you know Naruto or Jiraiya?"

"Yeah. Naruto and Sasuke are my teammates. Us three and Kakashi-Sensei make up team seven, and Jiraiya-Sama is one of the legendary Sannin, three of the most powerful shinobi there are."

"Well, do you know if they came back?" She shook her head. From what she'd heard, their mission was of utmost importance and they couldn't waste any time in completing it.

"Sorry, but from what I've heard they're on an extremely important mission and can't afford to waste even one day to wait."

"That's alright, I'll just catch up to them later. I know some techniques that will help me catch up to them quickly as long as I know the general direction they're going in, which I do." They were both silent for a moment, neither really having anything to say, but then Gohan remembered something.

"Say, do you know anyone that might be able to teach me some techniques?" Sakura thought for a moment.

"I'd suggest trying to get Kakashi-sensei to help you, but he's in the hospital right now. His room is the one you broke out of to get away from the hostpital. Oh! Naruto's favorite teacher was always Iruka-Sensei. Maybe he'll be able to help you if he's not too busy." Gohan instantly grew excited at the possibility of learning new techniques. His mood was abruptly cut off as Piccolo's urgent voice cut into his thoughts.

"Gohan you've got to get ready for a fight." Gohan took on a serious look which caused Sakura to become concerned, but Gohan raised a finger to silence any questions she had.

"What's going on Piccolo?"

"Your foolish mother has Vegeta and the others trying to find you and they just noticed your location when you powered up earlier." Gohan silently cursed himself for his lack of judgement.

"What?! I asked her not to do that!"

"Well, I don't think you made it clear enough. Or maybe there was just no convincing the woman. She stopped by here earlier you know. I tried to reason with her but she just got angry." Gohan gave a frustrated sigh at his mother's complete lack of concern for his own feelings.

"Thanks for the warning Piccolo."

"Hn. No problem kid." Gohan again cursed, though this time it was more verbal and Sakura was able to hear him.

"What's wrong Gohan?" He looked at her as though he'd just noticed she was there, then shook his head and regained his composure.

"You've got to get out of here Sakura. Someone's coming for me and there's going to be a fight soon. My Sensei Piccolo and I share a telepathic bond that we can speak to each other through and he just warned me that my Mother has sent some people out to try and take me home."

"Why would she do that?" Gohan growled a bit and proceeded to explain his situation.

"So...even though you asked her not to send anyone to look for you, she's doing it anyways?" Gohan rolled his eyes.

"Yep. She's never really cared too much for what I want. She's got her dreams and that seems to be all that matters to her."

"Can't you get your dad to say something to her about it?" Gohan looked at the ground sadly.

"My father died a year and a half ago. Besides, any time he tried to talk to her about it she'd get mad at him and tell him that he and his friends were bad influences on me." Sakura brought a hand to her mouth and gasped.

"I...I'm sorry Gohan, I didn't know." Gohan shook his head.

"It's not your fault. Acutally, it's my fault."

"What do you mean? How could it be your fault?" Gohan clenched his fists in anger.

"Because I lost control of myself in the middle of battle and got over confident. I had my opponent outclassed and I wanted revenge on him for killing innocent people and for hurting and trying to kill my friends. Even though I was so much stronger my opponent started to use an attack that would've killed me but my dad jumped in the way and took the hit instead." There was now blood dripping through Gohan's fingers as he recalled that fateful day when Goku teleported Cell to King Kai's planet to save Earth. Gohan of course had to tweak the story a bit, not wanting Sakura to know just yet what the stakes had really been in that battle. At this point in time it might be unbelievable for her or just plain too much for her to handle. Gohan's eyes widened as he felt four powerful fighters approaching.

"They're almost here! You have to hide!" Sakura shook her head determinedly.

"I want to help you."

"You can't. You might be able to fight one or two of them, but the others are way out of your league, trust me. Besides, even though only one of them might kill you, I don't want you or anyone else getting dragged into my problems so please, go and hide." Sakura just stared at him for a moment but finally relented, or so he thought. What she was actually doing was going to get Gai and maybe some other help as well in case Gohan got in over his head. No sooner than she departed four figures touched down in front of Gohan, who was now facing the forest. Three of them were Humans and one was a Saiya-jin. Two of the Humans were of average height, one wearing an orange gi with the symbol of the turtle hermit style of martial arts on the front and the other wore a simple green toga with a red belt around his waist. Gohan recognized these two as Yamcha and Tien respectively. The third Human was short enough to be considered a midget and wore the same orange gi as Yamcha. This one Gohan knew as Krillin. Then there was the Saiyajin. Falling a bit shorter than the two taller Humans he wore a blue jumpsuit and white body armor with white gloves and boots. This one could be none other than Vegeta, prince of the Saiya-jins. He stood in front while the Humans were lined up behind him. Vegeta took a step forward and gave a cocky smirk.

"Well now, who would ever have thought that you would've made this job so much more easy for us. Do you know why we're here brat?" Gohan glared at him and got straight to the point.

"I'm not going back Vegeta. Don't even bother trying to make me because you know that in the end you'll fail. Even though I haven't been able to do a lot of training this past year doesn't mean I've been slacking off completely." This time Krillin took an opportunity to speak.

"Look Gohan, none of us really want to fight you except maybe Vegeta but your mother threatened us with...terrible fates if we didn't help bring you back."

"I just said I'm not going. Now you can either leave peacefully or we can do this the hard way. I really don't want to hurt any of you guys but I will if you force me." The fighters all got into fighting stances with Gohan being the last one.

"Alright then, you guys leave me no choice." Gohan readied himself to begin powering up, but a shout distracted him along with the four fighters he'd been about to face off with.

"Dynamic entry!" With a huff, Vegeta looked to his right to see who had dared to interrupt his fight only to see a foot that was about to smash him in the face. His eyes widened in the moment before impact and he yelped out his surprise as he suddenly found himself flying through several trees. Gai now stood between Gohan and his three remaining opponents in his fighting stance. He gave the intruders a serious look.

"At this point in time Son Gohan is under the protection of Konohagakure and its shinobi. Any threatening moves made towards him will be interepereted as attacks on the village and will be dealt with accordingly. The bald human wearing the toga stepped forward, taking the role of leader now that Vegeta had been temporarily taken out of the picture.

"We don't mean any harm here. We just want to take Gohan home so his mother will stop worrying about him and leave us alone. If we don't at least try to get him back our lives will be miserable."

"Gohan, do you wish to go with them?"

"No, I don't. I've already told them that and I've told my mother as well, but mom sent them to force me to go back." Gai smirked at the fighters in front of him.

"Very well then. I shall be your opponent."

"Gai, I think..." Gohan was cut off as Vegeta exploded out of the forest and landed in front of Gai. He was seething.

"You! How dare you?!" He stalked forward. "Do you have any idea who you're messing with? I could kill you in an instant!" Vegeta raised his arm up and pointed his palm at Gai, charging blue energy into it. "Get out of my way now if you value your life."

"That's enough Vegeta! I'll fight you!" Vegeta let his energy dissipate and smirked at Gohan.

"Well that's good to hear. I was beginning to think you'd become a coward and were going to hide behind this weakling." Gohan shook his head at Vegeta's attempt to anger him. He should've learned by now that words wouldn't work on the boy like that. Ah well, he'd learn sooner or later after getting beat into the ground enough times when Gohan wasn't as sloppy from rage as he'd expected. Gohan mentally berated himself. Such arrogant thoughts were not going to get him anywhere, only action would. So, as Gai and Tien rushed at each other to begin their fight, Gohan and Vegeta got into their respective fighting stances once Gohan set his backpack down a safe distance away.

Vegeta wasted no time in initiating the fight by disappearing and reappearing behind Gohan with a kick aimed at his mid back. Gohan had sensed his move and twisted his upper body so that he could block it with an open palm. Gohan then took Vegeta's lead and disappeared as well, only appearing above and bringing a drop kick down onto his shoulder, but didn't connect as Vegeta was now behind him again. Gohan allowed himself to drop the short distance to the ground, landing on all fours and immediately pushing back with all his might, slamming himself into Vegeta and knocking him back. He then immediately spun around and ducked under a punch while thrusting his own fist at Vegeta's gut, only to have it grabbed. This gave Gohan an idea and he pretended to try again with his other fist only to have that caught as well, but this was exactly what he'd wanted. As soon as Vegeta had Gohan's hands in his own he jumped up and kicked out with both feet at Vegeta's face, leaving him no choice but to take the blow full force. Vegeta staggered backwards holding both hands to his face as he cursed at the pain but Gohan didn't allow him to recover and came at him with a right hook to the jaw that sent him spiraling out of control and into Tien who'd been on the defensive due to Gai's incredible strength and speed. Gai took this opportunity to land a kick to Tien's jaw and then leap frog over Vegeta and slam his doubled fists down onto his back, knocking him to the ground hard. Gai quickly ran to Gohan's side and both stood facing their opponents in ready stances, Gohan crouching low with his legs spread to shoulder width and his fists at his sides and Gai with his left arm behind his back and his right arm bent at a right angle with the back of his hand facing his opponents.

Krillin and Yamcha stood on the sidelines watching Tien's fight with the weird looking guy in loose green spandex in awe. Their little group of fighters had always been in silent agreement that Tien was the strongest human amongst them, no doubt making him the most powerful human on the planet. This other guy however was really giving the three eyed warrior a run for his money, even seeming to have a slight advantage. They hadn't really come along to fight, just hoping to convince Gohan with words that he should return home, though they were ready to help subdue him if necessary. It seemed however that this was an impossible fight with Gohan outclassing Vegeta and Tien having to fight the other guy. If they had to divide their forces up like that there'd be no way for them to get around Gohan's defenses. They were prepared however to jump in at any second, waiting only for Tien or Vegeta to request their aid, not that they expected Vegeta to. They also briefly wondered why Gohan and Vegeta hadn't transformed yet...

Gai smirked as his opponent got himself up and dusted himself off. He glanced at Gohan and then his opponent as well, who had a rather angry looking scowl on his face at the moment.

"It seems that this fight is going favorable to myself and Gohan at the moment. However I, Maito Gai, would like to know the name of my fiercely youthful and worthy opponent!" Tien raised an eyebrow and for a second wondered if he should ask about the rather...strange choice of words the man now known as Gai had just used, but intuition told him it was best to leave that one...a secret. He cleared his throat.

"I"m Tienshinhan, and you're not such a bad fighter yourself.." The compliment received one of Gai's "nice guy" poses, and left a temporarily blinded Tien wondering if his Taiyoken technique was that bright. He was brought out of his thoughts as Gohan and Vegeta resumed their duel.

Taking Vegeta and Gohan's renewed fight as his queue, Gai got a running start and leaped into the air at Tien and launched himself into a spinning kick. Tien thought he'd ducked under it, but Gai had apparently brought his other foot around as well, though in a lower sweep than the first.

"Konoha Goriki Senpu!" Tien was knocked face first to the ground and rolled to the side to avoid a falling heel kick that would've surely knocked him unconscious if he'd allowed it to hit. He got up on all fours and repeated a move Gohan had used earlier, launching himself into the air, only instead of using it as an attack he used it to give himself some space. He floated a few feet above an astonished Gai's head and braced himself by clenching his teeth in concentration and bringing his fists to his sides.

"I'm sorry but it's time for me to stop playing around and end this now so we can get Gohan and leave." He shouted out his concentration as a white aura formed around him and the air seemed to warp with the heat generated by his power up. Finishing his power up, Tien disappeared from view, assuming that Gai could no longer follow his movements. He would soon be proven wrong. Gai was indeed shocked by Tien's increase in chakra, but found it a little odd as it felt as though he concentrated much more on the physical half of his energies than the spiritual half. He was ready though, when Tien suddenly displayed a significant increase in speed and, no doubt, strength as well. Gai twisted to the left and used a forearm to block a kick aimed at his neck and tried to grab hold of Tien's leg, but he'd retracted it too fast which caused Gai to only grasp at air. Gai was now on the defensive as Tien was attacking much too fast for him to put up a decent fight. It was then he saw an opening. Tien threw another punch, but this one was just a tad slower than the rest of his movements and Gai capitalized on it by quickly grabbing his wrist and tossing him over his shoulder. Tien performed a midair flip and landed so that he was once again facing Gai.

"It seems that I'm going to have to take this fight seriously as well. Prepare yourself Tienshinhan." With immeasurable speed he ran up to Tien and grabbed him by the neck. He then ran towards the forest and held a helpless Tien out to the side, slamming him through several trees before dropping him and smashing a fist into his gut before he hit the ground, sending him flying several feet away to hit an older tree and fall to the ground gasping for air. Gai sped up to him, picked him back up and threw him back out of the forest before overtaking him and grabbing him by the head to slam him into the ground, knocking him out. Gai stood there, breathing hard and fell to one knee from the stress put on his body from the speeds he'd been moving at, but he didn't count on Krillin and Yamcha coming to Tien's aid, already at full power. .

"I will not allow you to forcibly remove Gohan from this village no matter what." Both fighters suddenly found themselves on the defensive as his speed and strength had gone up even farther. Gai ran at them, arms out to the sides in an attempt to clothesline both at the same time, but they just barely managed to avoid it. Krillin and Yamcha looked at each other and nodded. They braced themselves as though to power up and became outlined in gold energy.

"Multi form!" They shouted simultaneously and where there were one Krillin and Yamcha there were now four of each. Krillin gave a confident smirk and a thumbs down.

"You may be a lot stronger than both of us, but now we outnumber you eight to one." Gai's eyes widened in disbelief. Each copy had its own chakra signature. Were they kage bunshin? No matter. Even if they were they'd only have a quarter of the original's chakra each. It would be easy to take them down. The fight between Gai and the four Krillins and Yamchas was short and before long the copies had all been painfully knocked back into their originals. Krillin and Yamcha winced as they stood up. Krillin cupped his hands at his side and after a moment Yamcha followed suit. Gai watched on in curiosity as blue orbs grew in size in their hands.

"Kamehameha!" Both fighters launched their attacks simultaneously, merging them into one energy wave which Gai did not have time to dodge or block. His eyes widened as he felt the heat from the attack before it struck him dead center in his chest and carried him back into the forest to hit a tree and fall to the ground. Gai groaned as he stood up. What kind of technique was that? He'd never seen anything like it before. What further intrigued him was the complete lack of hand seals. They'd simply cupped their hands at their sides and formed it. Were they among the few shinobi that didn't need them? He eyed them further and decided that wasn't true. These two didn't look or feel like shinobi at all, the lack of headbands aside.

Krillin and Yamcha were more than a little surprised when Gai managed to get back on his feet after such an intense blast.

"Krillin?" Yamcha called out to his friend nervously. Krillin swallowed hard before answering.

"Y-yeah?" he took half a step back as Gai approached them.

"We're in for it now aren't we?" Krillin only managed to nod his head before Gai was upon them.

Meanwhile, Gohan and Vegeta were nearly even in their fight.

"Brat, why haven't you transformed yet?" Vegeta really wanted to get this over with and get back to his gravity room, but his pride would not allow him to be the first to transform, thus admitting to be the weaker of the two warriors, at least as far as willpower.

"I have no intention of transforming. I'm trying to make some new friends here and I don't want to scare them off." Vegeta scoffed at such a ridiculous idea.

"Why would you want to impress some weakling humans? Don't you already associate with enough of them?"

"Because I want friends that I know from my own experiences, not someone that I met through my dad. The guys my dad knows are good and all, but I want my own friends too. Friends that I had to earn." Vegeta snorted.

"Feh, another one of your useless human emotions. These 'friends' as you call them, will only drag you down in battle. A true Saiya-jin relies on his own strength."

"And what makes you think I want to be a true Saiya-jin?" Gohan threw a punch at Vegeta, but the older Saiya-jin tilted his head to the left and let it pass him by. He retaliated with his own fist which Gohan managed to duck under. Seeing a vulnerable spot, he drove his head up into the Saiya-jin prince's abdomen, doubling him over in pain. Vegeta still managed to move through his pain however, and brought a fist down onto Gohan's back, slamming him to the ground. He followed through with a falling heel that hit Gohan hard enough to knock the wind out of him. He then kicked him up in the air and sent him flying into the lake with a roundhouse kick. There was a mighty splash as Gohan exerted his energy and burst through the surface of the water to float a few inches above it, looking rather irritated. He wordlessly flew forward at Vegeta and just barely managed to nick his cheek with a fist, drawing a thin line of blood out of the wound. Vegeta smirked and took a swing at Gohan's face, but the boy had vanished and reappeared behind him. He struck out with a foot at Vegeta's back, but he'd already been spinning around and brought his own leg up to block it. With a shout from Vegeta, Gohan was blown backwards by a hastily erected energy dome and suddenly found himself doubled over the older man's fist. Vegeta looked down at him and gave him a predatory smirk.

"You may be stronger than me, but I've got years more experience than you. If you don't transform I'll wipe the floor with you boy." Gohan coughed up a bit of blood and spat in Vegeta's face, who scowled in rage. "Very well then. You've just assured that this will be the most painful battle of your life brat." Vegeta smashed his fist into Gohan's face, causing him to bite his lip hard enough to draw blood. He dropped Gohan as he brought his knee up and was surprised when the boy somehow managed to concentrate enough to zanzoken behind him. He turned around and smirked at Gohan who just spit up some blood and returned the gesture.

"Sorry Vegeta but I don't have time for this. I'm gonna have to end this fight now. Kaioken times ten!" Gohan grunted at the strain his body was undergoing due to the kaioken, but smiled nonetheless at Vegeta's wide eyed reaction. "Heh, my Dad taught me this while we were training in the hyperbolic time chamber. He didn't really think I'd ever need it but I insisted cause I thought it was cool. Now, let's see how long you last." Before he could make a move though, he hesitated as he felt Gai's energy spike before Tien was defeated and then he felt it go even higher after he felt Krillin and Yamcha split into four each, no doubt using the multiform technique. He was quick to get back on track and furrowed his brow in concentration. He looked at Vegeta and smirked knowingly before rushing at him with such speed that Vegeta couldn't follow and knocked him into the air, followed him and hit him back towards the ground. He then hit him in another direction, passed him up and knocked him into yet another direction. To the untrained eye it would appear as though Vegeta were being yanked about by puppet strings. Gohan landed one final kick to his midriff, sending him plummeting to the ground with such force that he created a small crater. Vegeta did not get up. Gohan dropped the kaioken and fell to his knees, trying to contact Piccolo through their bond before passing out.

"Piccolo, Vegeta and the others are taken care of. Could you please come and get them so they can't just come after me again after they wake up?" Gohan could visualize Piccolo nodding as he responded.

"Sure thing kid." Gohan barely noticed when several ninja wearing animal masks appeared and one picked him up and another one got a collapsed Gai.

"Heh, looks like I'm going back to the hospital." Was Gohan's last thought as he slipped into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

Gohan awoke the next day once again in a hospital room. He shook his head to clear a bit of fogginess out of his vision and looked around. This time instead of just Sakura he also had a silver haired man with one visible eye in his room. After looking at him a moment Gohan deduced him to be the man whose hospital room he'd broken out of the day before. He recalled Sakura calling him Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi saw him looking around and greeted him with what could only be seen as a smile, though it was only visible through his one eye.

"Yo." Gohan tried to sit up but found himself to be bound up in bandages. He twitched an eye in irritation at not being able to move.

"What happened?" Gohan groaned through a pounding headache he'd just realized he had. Sakura spoke up since Kakashi only had a minimum amount of information on the fight.

"You and Gai-sensei beat those four strangers up but both of you were beat up quite a bit so you're gonna have to spend some time in here, probably a week at least." Gohan grunted in frustration before he remembered the beans he'd brought with him for just such an occasion.

"Sakura, could you look through my gi and bring me the brown pouch that's in it? It should be in one of the pockets."

"Sure, just give me a minute." She got up and walked over to the closet and disappeared for a moment as she checked Gohan's gi for the pouch. "Found it." She closed the closet behind her and walked over to Gohan and handed the pouch to him. Good thing for him that his arms weren't bandaged. He untied the string that kept it closed and reached into it. Kakashi cocked an eyebrow at the green bean that was taken from the pouch.

"You know, I'm sure Sakura wouldn't mind getting you some food if you're hungry, and the hospital food here isn't as bad as most places." Gohan chuckled a bit in amusement. Of course, he didn't really expect anyone out of his dad's group of friends to know what a senzu bean was. He ate the bean and retied the pouch before jumping up and stretching his body out enough to rip the bandages apart. He threw several practice punches and kicks to show his guests that he was already healed. Sakura hadn't really payed enough attention to that and started to freak out at seeing him move around so much.

"Gohan! You've got to rest your body so you can heal properly. Your body was badly strained from that fight you had." Gohan grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"I'm fine now, really. That was a senzu bean I just ate. Senzu beans heal any injury aside from lost limbs and completely restore your energy, plus you'll be full for five days." Sakura's eyes widened at the prospect of such a thing. She knew a lot about medic nin and their techniques and knew that no such thing had been discovered in the ninja world. Such a miracle could make a huge difference in battle. Sure there were soldier pills but they didn't heal injuries and they only worked for three days and three nights, after which the user may very well pass out from severe chakra exhaustion.

"Where do you get them?" Gohan winced at the hopeful expression on her face. Even if anyone around here could fly, Korin would kill him if he were suddenly flooded with people wanting senzu, especially since he couldn't grow too many at once with the limited space in his tower.

"Heh, sorry but they only grow in one spot on the planet and unless you can fly it'll take you days to get there." Sakura remained hopeful, not knowing that he meant that they'd have to climb. After all, many missions required shinobi to travel for sometimes several weeks before reaching their destination, and even then some missions took longer.

"Well that shouldn't be a problem. A couple days' walk won't be much of an obstacle." Gohan shook his head.

"What I mean is that it'll take that long to climb the tower. From here it would probably take a month or two just to get there on foot." Sakura visibly paled at this and Kakashi was clearly surprised, though their reactions were for different reasons. Sakura had now realized just how daunting of a task it would be to go after these beans and Kakashi was surprised that this boy had managed to get some. Of course, that was assuming what the boy said about them was true... Gohan wasn't quite done yet though. "Besides that, Master Korin doesn't like a lot of company and would get mad if I told a bunch of people where he lived. Anyways, Can I leave now?"

"Just let the doctor give you a once over and if he says you're ready to go then sure." Sakura stood up and left the room to go find the doctor assigned to Gohan, leaving him alone with Kakashi. Kakashi stayed quiet for a moment, thinking through some questions to ask the boy. The only thing he knew for sure was that he'd saved Sasuke from certain death at the hands of his traitorous brother Itachi.

"I wanted to thank you, for saving Sasuke." Gohan blinked in surprise, not really expecting this.

"Well, it's just what I do. No need to thank me." Kakashi eyed him for a moment, trying to see if there was any deception in the boy's apparent modesty. He could find none and thus came to respect him a bit. Modesty was not something found often in a fighter, especially one who could survive a fight with Uchiha Itachi. That fact alone spoke of the caliber of fighter this Gohan must be. The next moment the door opened and in stepped Sakura and the doctor, who was astonished to see Gohan standing on the bed and moving around freely. He showed no signs of his surprise though and asked Gohan to sit down on the bed so he could take a look at him. After poking and prodding Gohan in several places the doctor, though immensely surprised at his already being healed, said he was fit to leave. Sakura and Kakashi left the room for Gohan to change. He came out a moment later, relieved that they still didn't want him to undergo a psychological exam. He was ready to leave, but he still wanted to find something out before he decided what to do next.

"How is Gai? Did he make it out okay? I know he beat those guys, but I think I felt him pass out right before I did." Sakura shrugged.

"He'll be fine. He pushed his body pretty hard so he'll be in here for at least a day, but other than that nothing's wrong. There's one thing that I'm curious about though."

"What's that?"

"Well, those four guys you were fighting disappeared after the battle. There's no trace that they were ever fighting you aside from the damage to the surrounding area."

"I can answer that one. Even though those guys came to fight me and make me go back with them they're not really my enemies. My mom just intimidated them into trying to get me back. Before I passed out I asked Piccolo-Sensei to come and take them back so they couldn't just wake up and come after me again." Kakashi was left wondering just how he'd managed to get someone to come and take other fighters away when he'd been about to pass out. Gohan seemed to read his mind and answered his unasked question.

"You're probably wondering how I was able to get someone to come and get them huh?" A slight nod was all the answer he needed. "Piccolo Sensei has some telepathic powers and has a bond with me that we can communicate through over very long distances. I just spoke to him through our bond and he came to get them."

"I see. That means you must be very close to your Sensei. I've heard about such bonds. From what I understand they can only exist through two individuals who have the closest of friendships, and even then at least one of them must be telepathic, a very rare trait indeed."

"Yeah, Piccolo-Sensei is more than just a friend though. He's like a second father to me."

"Yes well, all of that aside, what do you intend to do next?" Gohan creased his brow in thought. He really wanted to catch up to Naruto and Jiraiya but it would probably be best for him to learn as much as possible about this foreign world he'd found himself in. Perhaps there were some techniques he could learn that would be useful to him and would make it easier for him to learn whatever it was that Jiraiya had promised to teach him.

"I was going to catch up with Naruto and Jiraiya, but I think I'll stay here for a little while and learn as much as I can about you ninja." He took on a hopeful look. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble that is."

"I think that can be arranged. You will be escorted by an ANBU guard at all times though. After watching you I don't believe that you would be any threat to us, but it wouldn't be prudent for us to just blindly trust someone. You've seen the devastation we've recently undergone haven't you?" Gohan nodded his head solemnly.

"I would like to know what an ANBU is though."

"ANBU is a special unit of elite ninja that excell in stealth and assassinations. They are also charged with protecting the Hokage at all costs. Do not worry, you will only be followed from the shadows so as not to arouse suspicion or hostility towards you."

"Alright, I can agree to that. But could you teach me some techniques? Sakura told me that you might be able to help me in that area."

"Hmmm...I could probably help you, but I do believe that you only have a minimal understanding of the ninja world, am I correct?" Gohan nodded and briefly wondered how he could know that so easily but then remembered that all of the ninja he'd seen so far had that headband that had a leaf symbol on it. "Then I believe that one of the instructors at the academy would be better suited to your purposes."

"Alright, but Sakura said something about an Iruka-Sensei?" Kakashi smiled under his mask and briefly though of Iruka. He'd been the first person aside from the Sandaime Hokage to both recognize Naruto and treat him like a normal human being instead of something to be despised and tossed out like garbage. Iruka was one of, if not the best teacher at the academy and would probably be the least likely to be suspicious of someone like Gohan.

"Yes, Umino Iruka. An excellent choice for an instructor. I'll take you to meet him." Gohan bowed his head in thanks and respect.

"Thank you sir. I appreciate your assistance." Kakashi just shrugged.

"It's the least I could do. You did save one if not two of my students after all. Just follow me and I'll lead you to his house. The academy is presently not holding any classes because it sustained damage in the attacks, so Iruka should be able to devote a significant amount of time to training you. Just follow me, it's close by." Kakashi began walking at a casual pace, not knowing if Gohan would be able to keep up with him if he were to choose to run. They walked quietly, Sakura following behind them since she had nothing else to do at the moment. They'd entered the shopping district, which despite broken windows, walls with holes in them and potholes in the ground was bustling with activity. They were walking past a sushi restaurant when they heard a yelp and a thud as someone hit the ground. Gohan turned to his left, towards the source of the cry and saw a young girl sprawled face down in the dirt, apparently having tripped over her own feet. Gohan walked over to her and extended a hand to her. She took his hand and he helped her to her feet and picked up a bag that she'd dropped, giving it to her.

"A-arigatou." A quiet voice spoke to him from a lowered head. Gohan could feel an angry spike of energy from behind him and whirled around to see a rather imposing man with pupil less eyes glaring at him.

"Is there a problem sir?" The man scowled at him.

"Of course there's a problem. You, a commoner, dared to touch the heir of the Hyuuga clan." Gohan arched an eyebrow at the obvious hostility in the man's voice and tried to explain the situation.

"I was just helping her up. She fell and I wanted to make sure she was okay." The man looked at the girl behind him and, if possible, his glare intensified.

"Well, it seems you've managed to further embarrass the Hyuuga name by your inability to even act proper in public. I shall deal with you once we return to the Hyuuga compound." He brushed past Gohan and roughly grabbed the girl behind him, but Gohan forcefully grabbed his hand as he walked past. The man whirled on him and attempted to backhand him but Gohan brought his arm up to block it.

"That's quite enough. This girl didn't do anything wrong so there's no need to treat her like that." The man's scowl deepened into a snarl and Gohan could feel his energy spike even further.

"Don't presume to tell me what is necessary and what is not! Hinata is my daughter and future head of the clan and therefore I shall do whatever I feel is necessary to prepare her for that." Gohan's anger quickly began to rise at the man's words and treatment of his daughter. He gave the man the most intense glare he could muster and allowed his eyes to flash teal, causing the man to raise an eyebrow. Those who mistreated people weaker than them were nothing more than scum who needed to be taught a lesson, and this man was about to learn that lesson very quickly. Well, he would have had Kakashi not chosen this moment to step in and diffuse the situation.

"My apologies Hiashi-sama. Gohan is new to this village and does not yet know of our social order. Please forgive his rudeness so that we may continue on our way." Hiashi huffed and stormed off, dragging the girl with him. Gohan saw her steal a glance at him and then lower her head to stare at the ground once more. He clenched his fists in anger and made ready to charge at Hiashi and give him the beating of his life, but Kakashi's hand on his shoulder calmed him down.

"It would not be wise to incite the wrath of a Hyuuga, most especially Hiashi-sama. The Hyuuga are Konoha's most talented and powerful fighters and also its most prominent and noble clan. To be a guest and earn his displeasure may very well end up getting you ejected from the village, especially with our current lack of a Hokage." Gohan grit his teeth and growled.

"But it's not right the way he was treating that girl!" Kakashi shook his head.

"While it is unfortunate that he treats Hinata-chan so roughly, it is not our business or responsibility to interfere." Gohan sighed and relaxed, though he would not forget this. The next time he met up with Hyuuga Hiashi would not be so pleasant. Sakura walked up to Gohan and put her hand on his shoulder as they continued their walk.

"That was very brave of you to stand up to Hiashi-sama like that. Most people would have just walked away or frozen in terror." Gohan chuckled, embarrassed at the praise he was receiving.

"I'm not easily intimidated. My Sensei toughened me up a lot." They left the business district and as they continued their trek they passed by a seemingly abandoned section of the village. "What's that?" Gohan pointed to the empty buildings. Kakashi smiled at his curiosity and explained that it used to be the Uchiha compound.

"Used to be? Where are they now? Are they another clan?"

"They used to be another noble clan of Konoha until a few years ago when Uchiha Itachi slaughtered the entire clan except for his little brother, Sasuke. That is why Sasuke wishes to kill his brother so badly. To get revenge."

"So what makes these clans so powerful and influential?"

"That would be their kekai-genkai. The Uchihas had the Sharingan and the Hyuugas have the Byakugan."

"What's a kekai-genkai?"

"A kekai genkai is a special technique that is passed down only along a specific bloodline and can only be used by those who are members of that bloodline." This brought an idea to Gohan's mind about what he could do in case he was forced to transform into a super Saiya-jin. Due to the general nature of this kekai-genkai he could very easily explain his transformations away as different levels of that. It wouldn't really be lying either, since only those with Saiya-jin blood could transform, though the Saiya-jins were far more than just a mere clan, nobody would have to find that out. He was interrupted out of his thoughts when Kakashi announced their arrival at Iruka's house. Gohan looked up, his eyes having diverted to the ground while he was thinking. He saw a modest looking two-story house that was just a bit smaller than his own home. They walked up to the front door and Kakashi knocked three times. After a minute of waiting the door opened and a man that was about five foot seven opened the door and smiled warmly at his guests. Gohan noticed that he had a scar running across the bridge of his nose that started below both eyes. Gohan winced at the thought of the injury that must have caused said scar.

"Hello Kakashi-san, Sakura-chan. And I see you have a stranger with you. My name is Umino Iruka, what is yours?" He looked down at Gohan and smiled at him as well. Gohan bowed respectfully.

"I'm Son Gohan. It's nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine. Why don't you guys come in for some tea." All three said their thank yous and accepted his invitation. After they'd entered his house and were seated at a table in a cozy living room, Iruka left for a moment and returned with a pot of tea and four cups. "I'd already made the tea, so you guys showed up with perfect timing." They thanked him for the tea and began sipping it. "So to what do I owe the honor of this visit Kakashi-san?" Kakashi waved a hand dismissively.

"No need to be so formal Iruka. Just call me Kakashi. Anyways, we came to ask you if you were willing to privately tutor Gohan here in the basic knowledge and techniques of a ninja. Iruka looked at Gohan and took an extra long sip of tea as he pondered the question and what his answer would be. He decided that he wanted to find out a little more before he accepted this.

"I'd like to have a few questions answered before I make my decision. Is that okay with you?" Gohan and Kakashi nodded. "Good. First thing. I know that Gohan is no regular civilian, otherwise you wouldn't even bother with a request like that. Am I right?" It was only Gohan that nodded this time. "Okay, number two is that I'm guessing that you have shown at least some small ability to fight or at the very least you learn very quickly. Am I right in this assessment as well?" Another nod from Gohan. "Very well, I suppose I'll ask my last two questions simultaneously. The first question will be for you again Gohan, and the second will be directed at Kakashi. Why is it that you want to be taught these things? Why do you recommend for him to be taught?" Since Gohan's question came first, he decided that he would be the first to answer.

"Well, I want to learn this stuff because for one thing I just like to learn new things, especially techniques. Another thing is that I want to become stronger so I can better protect my friends and family when they're threatened." Iruka nodded, seemingly satisfied with these answers and turned to look at Kakashi.

"And what do you have to say?"

"Well, actually I also have two answers, though the second answer is somewhat for both you and I." Iruka gave him a questioning gaze so he just decided to answer. "Number one is that I've been watching this boy and have deemed him to be trustworthy, and you know that I don't just trust anyone. I think that this boy, Gohan, would make an invaluable ally to Konoha after some of the things I've heard, which leads me to answer number two. What I have heard is that he saved two of my students, I'm sure you know who I'm talking about, and that he survived a battle with an S-class missing nin, namely Uchiha Itachi, in order to do so. In other words, he saved Sasuke from potential death and Naruto from abduction by a certain organization that we've been keeping tabs on for some time now." Iruka's eyes were now as wide as dinner plates.

"You mean...them?!" Kakashi nodded. "And they're after Naruto?!" Another nod. "And Gohan kept, or at least aided in keeping them from reaching their objective and also from eliminating the only Uchiha left to Konoha."

"That about sums it up. So, what do you say? Will you do it?" Iruka nodded fervently.

"Anyone willing to help Naruto and who manages to also gain your trust is worth it as far as I'm concerned. I would like to know where the boy is staying though, in case I need to find him at home." Gohan grinned sheepishly and let out a nervous giggle while rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, actually I don't live in this village. I was actually planning on sleeping out in the forest until I decided to go home." Iruka looked at him oddly.

"How did you get into the village then? They don't let just anybody waltz in here you know. You have to have either a pass or an escort by one of the village's ninja, namely a chuunin or higher. Konoha is much too vulnerable at this point in time to just let anybody in"

"Well that's because in a way I did have an escort. Someone named Maito Gai took me to the hospital with Sasuke because of an attack on my mind by that Itachi guy."

"Alright, I will help you, on one condition."

"What's that, Iruka-Sensei?" Iruka chuckled. Gohan must be really serious about this if he's already calling him Sensei before even knowing what the condition is.

"I want you to stay in my house while you're here. It'll be much easier for me to do this than if you were to stay out in the woods, not to mention less trouble for you." Gohan smiled and bowed his head in thanks and respect.

"I appreciate your hospitality."

"Don't worry about it. We'll start tomorrow so you can take some time to get to know the village a little bit. Just follow me and I'll show you to your room." Iruka led Gohan out of the room and out into a small hallway that was in the back of the house and turned right. Being close to the end of the hallway already meant they reached their destination quickly, and Iruka opened a door to their left. Inside was a nice sized bedroom with a comfortable looking bed, a small table next to the bed with a lamp on it and a dresser with a mirror above it. The walls and ceiling were colored white and the floor had a fuzzy brown carpet that looked almost as comfortable as the bed. Gohan set his backpack on the bed and followed Iruka back to the room that they'd left Kakashi and Sakura in.

"Alright guys, why don't you show Gohan around the village a little bit so he doesn't get stuck here all the time. I'd do it but I've got some things I need to do." Kakashi shrugged.

"Whatever. I've been ordered to take it easy for a couple of days so I really don't have anything better to do. What do you want to see first?" Gohan furrowed his brow in thought but before he could come up with anything there was a loud rumbling that echoed throughout the house. Kakashi, Iruka and Sakura immediately tensed up and had kunai out. Gohan chuckled a bit in embarrassment and blushed.

"Well, I think maybe some place to eat would be good. I'm starving!" There were sweatdrops all around and Gohan, Kakashi and Sakura once again headed out on the road.

It was nearly night when Gohan finally returned to his new temporary home. Sakura and Kakashi had shown him most of the village, including where he could eat, buy supplies and also where the Hokage's tower was. Gohan had really enjoyed his time with the two ninja and hoped that he could spend more time with them tomorrow, not being used to company from people he didn't already know. What he was looking forward to the most though was learning about how to be a ninja. He entered Iruka's house and made his way to his room where he promptly plopped into the bed and fell asleep. Today had been rather stressful for him and he really didn't feel like changing first.

Gohan awoke to the enticing smell of food coming from somewhere in the house. He hadn't really bothered to take a tour just yet so after changing into a spare gi he'd packed he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and followed his nose to the source of the smell. Immediately out of the hallway he was in the living room which lead to either the front door or another room to the left. Gohan could tell that the smell was coming from the room to his left so he casually made his way to what could only be the kitchen. Iruka sensed him enter the room and turned to smile warmly at him before returning his attention to the bacon he was cooking.

"Good morning Gohan. I hope you're ready for your first lesson today." Gohan couldn't hide the grin that made its way to his face. He loved to learn. Hopefully he'd not only learn some techniques but maybe some of the history of this place as well. Certainly a shinobi village would have an interesting past. Iruka set two plates down on the table and Gohan had to inwardly wince at the, for him, measly amount of food. Luckily he'd brought his own food with him, as there was no way it'd be fair to expect this man to provide him with enough food to support a growing half saiya-jin boy, even if he didn't know the reason for his voracious appetite. A worrisome idea suddenly struck Gohan as both he and Iruka sat down for their meal. This caught Iruka's attention so he studied Gohan for a minute, trying to decide if it would be best to ask the boy if something was troubling him. Gohan relieved him of that slight burden however when he decided to voice his concern.

"Ummm...can I ask you a question Iruka-sensei?" Iruka gave him a comforting smile, hoping to convey to Gohan that he could trust him.

"Of course. Ask me anything Gohan." Gohan blushed a bit, embarrassed that he hadn't thought of something like this before, but asked anyways.

"I was wondering what I could do for money. I can't expect you to feed me all the time and I'd at least like to pay you a little bit for letting me stay in your home." Iruka laughed and reached across the table to rest his hand on Gohan's shoulder.

"Don't worry about such things Gohan. Just the fact that you saved Naruto is more than enough payment as far as I'm concerned. As far as money is concerned though, I'll see what I can do about maybe getting you instated as a ninja of this village after I've given you some basic training. How does that sound?" Gohan's face brightened considerably at the thought. The idea of being a ninja, even if temporarily, appealed to him.

"That'd be great!" He beamed and looked down at his food.

"Itadakimasu!" Iruka could only gape in shock as Gohan managed to down all of his food at speeds that he'd only ever seen Naruto eat. If this boy had an appetite like that...He suddenly felt depressed and slumped in his chair at the thought of spending that much money on food.

"Why me?" He remembered his food and straightened up in his chair so he could eat before his food got cold. "Well Gohan, I've only ever seen one person eat like that, and if he's anything to go by I'd say that you're probably still hungry right?" Gohan couldn't help but smile sheepishly and rub the back of his head.

"Yeah. That's why I was asking about money. Don't worry, I brought my own food though, and I know how to get food out of the wild if I have to." Iruka let out a sigh of relief, his wallet no longer feeling desperately empty.

"That's good to hear. You know, Naruto has an appetite just like yours." He'd expected Gohan to laugh or have some reaction similar to that, but what he got was totally unexpected. Gohan suddenly seemed extremely tense as though he'd just been given his death sentence and he had a horrified look on his face.

"Tell me something. When Naruto was born, do you know if he had a...tail?" Iruka looked confused but shook his head.

"What about his parents? Did either of them have tails?" Again he shook his head. What was he asking such an odd question for?

"Is something bothering you Gohan?" Gohan snapped out of his shock and shook his head.

"No, I'm fine." Iruka was waiting for him to explain, but it quickly became evident that it wasn't something he wanted to talk about, so Iruka just ate his food and took care of the dishes. Once he was done he left the room for a few minutes and came back with a few books.

"Now Gohan, before I teach you any techniques I'm going to teach you some history on Konoha and shinobi in general. It will be easier for you to understand many things that way. Iruka cupped a hand over his chin in thought for a moment, trying to decide where to begin.

"The first thing I will teach you is the basic idea of what a shinobi is. Shinobi operate in similar ways to mercenaries, except that mercenaries work for their own personal gain where shinobi perform missions to bring money to their village. Also, where mercenaries only kill people, shinobi perform a variety of tasks, from weeding a garden to retrieving stolen top secret scrolls. Shinobi fight with many different techniques. There is hand to hand combat or taijutsu, ninja techniques or ninjutsu and illusion techniques also called genjutsu. Let's go outside so I can show you a few examples. They walked out into the front yard and turned around to face the house. "Alright, take a good look at the house. Take in every detail." Gohan did as he was told and nodded when he was done. "Good, now, keep watching as I activate a genjutsu. Gohan suddenly gasped in shock and made to run towards the house to try to put out the fire that he now saw consuming it. A hand on his shoulder however quickly put a stop to his charge.

"Aren't you going to do something? Your house is on fire!" Iruka chuckled at his obvious lack of experience.

"Are you sure about that? I want you to look at me for a second." Gohan quirked an eyebrow and turned to look at Iruka.

"Dispel!" He tapped Gohan on the head with two fingers and motioned for him to turn back around. Gohan was surprised at what he saw as the house was not only no longer on fire, but didn't even seem the least bit scorched.

"That is a genjutsu. It is a technique used to alter the victim's perception of reality. What you just saw was only a simple genjutsu. There are genjutsu so powerful that they could trick a person's mind into dying, or just deal out so much psychological damage that there would be no recovery. Now I'll show you a basic ninjutsu." He formed his hands into a chakra molding seal. "Henge!" There was a puff of smoke and when it cleared Naruto was standing where Iruka had been only a moment before." Gohan walked around Iruka and looked at him from all angles, trying to see if he could find a discrepancy in the technique, but this was an exact duplicate of Naruto.

"This is henge no jutsu, one of the basic techniques required to pass the genin exams and officially become a shinobi." Gohan was utterly shocked. Not only did Iruka look like Naruto but he also sounded exactly like him as well. It didn't seem possible for such a technique to exist, and yet here it was.

"So are you gonna teach me that technique sensei?" Iruka smiled and released the transformation, returning him to normal.

"Yep, that and Bunshin no jutsu as well." He once again performed a molding seal and with another puff of smoke there was an exact copy of Iruka standing next to the original. The bunshin smiled and waved at Gohan before Iruka dissipated it. "That is a bunshin, it is an exact replica of the user. It is however, only an illusion and cannot harm the enemy. Almost immediately Gohan began going through several practical uses of those techniques in battle and also possible combinations in his head. He grinned at the thought of using those techniques in his next sparring match with Piccolo, or even Vegeta. Heck, he was now more than ever excited about learning new techniques from the people here. If techniques like these were basic, who knew what else was possible? So, in order to get to that part faster, Gohan sped back into the house and got to work studying the books Iruka had set down on the table. For the next eight hours, Gohan digested information about shinobi, their techniques and the several shinobi nations that existed. He couldn't believe that such powerful people existed right under the noses of his dad and all of his friends. Gohan had become concerned at a particular name he'd noticed was repeated quite often during his studies, so he called out for Iruka who promptly appeared in the kitchen with him.

"Do you have a question Gohan?" He nodded his head as he stared at a picture of a giant fox with nine tails.

"What is the kyuubi? It's mentioned a lot in these books but none of them really explain what it is." Iruka visibly tensed at having to explain the demon. No doubt some rather...unpleasant memories would resurface. He wasn't going to deny Gohan an explanation though, he was not one to refuse to answer genuine curiosity when one of his students showed it.

"Well...nobody is entirely sure what the kyuubi is. All we know is that it's the most powerful of nine destructive creatures called bijuu. The kyuubi was so powerful that it was said that with the swipe of one of its nine tails it could level a mountain or create a tsunami, and it used those powers against this very village about twelve years ago. The demon was defeated, but our village had suffered many casualties. We still haven't fully recovered from that tragedy." Iruka clenched his teeth in anger as he remembered how the villagers treated Naruto for so long. A few of them had realized that he wasn't so bad, however the majority of them still sent those spiteful words and hateful glares at the boy whenever they got the chance.

"Are you okay Sensei? You look mad." Iruka shook his head, clearing out the angry thoughts and cleared his throat.

"No, I'm fine Gohan. Just some bad memories is all." Gohan just nodded. He could understand that sentiment a hundred percent. Most nights he relived the Cell games or even the occasional battle on planet Namek against Frieza. He shuddered at the thought of the icy tyrant. He thanked Iruka and returned to his studying.

Eight hours later, Gohan astounded Iruka with the fact that he'd just learned in a few hours what most people took several weeks to learn.

"I'm impressed Gohan. You've managed to beat every study record in the village. Nobody has ever learned that much in such a short amount of time." Gohan rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, that was actually pretty light stuff compared to what my mom usually gives me." Iruka almost fainted at the idea of that much work being considered light.

"J...just how much studying is normal for you Gohan?" Iruka asked that against his better judgement, being sure that he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Actually, I never really did much else. I went out fishing with my dad sometimes but usually I stayed inside and studied. My mom even had earphones that she put on me at night so I could study while I was sleeping.

"What about friends? Weren't you ever allowed to just go out and play with other kids your own age?" Gohan just shrugged.

"We live in the middle of a mountainous area that's surrounded by forest. There isn't anyone living within several hundred miles of us." Iruka's face fell. Sure learning was very important, but even a person's brain needed rest every once in a while, and he couldn't even begin to imagine living life without friends. Of course, he hadn't had any parents either, no thanks to the Kyuubi, but still...

"I'm sure you'll make plenty of friends here Gohan. Anyways, I think that's enough for today. Tomorrow I think we'll go over Shuriken and kunai throwing. How does that sound?"

"It sounds great! I can't wait."

"I'm glad to see you're so excited Gohan. Not too many of my students show this much enthusiasm, and that's even with me giving lectures instead of just making them read it all out of books."

"Heh, well I prefer learning from books anyways. Anyways, I"m gonna go see Sasuke in the hospital, so I'll see you when I get back."

"Alright Gohan, but before I forget let me give you something." Iruka left the room for a few minutes and came back to give Gohan a key to his house. "Here, it's a spare key to the house. That way you can come and go without having to rely on me to let you in and out in case I'm busy or not home." Gohan took the key with a grateful smile and tucked it in his gi.

"Thanks, Sensei. I'm glad you trust me so much." Iruka nodded and put a hand on Gohan's shoulder.

"Anybody that's willing to risk their life for one of the people of this village, especially Naruto, is more than worthy of my trust." Iruka's speech left Gohan feeling a bit guilty about hiding so much information about himself, even if it was necessary. He didn't dwell on it too long though once he realized how Iruka had singled Naruto out for his last statement.

"What did you mean by that Iruka-sensei? Aren't there other people willing to risk their lives for Naruto?" Iruka sighed sadly and rubbed his temples as he sat down at the table and looked Gohan in the eyes.

"Naruto...is not well liked in this village. In fact, there aren't too many outside of the shinobi that don't outright hate him and wish that he'd just die. It's sad, but I never noticed until too late just how badly he was treated and it almost caused him to allow himself to be lured into a trap and killed just so he could pass the genin test and become a shinobi. Up until recently, Naruto only had one friend in this entire village, and that was me. Also, he has no family as his mother died on the day he was born and nobody really knows who his father is." Unshed tears shimmered in Iruka's eyes as he recalled what the third Hokage had told him about how Naruto had been treated by the villagers. Gohan somehow knew he wasn't going to like the answer he was going to get, but he had to ask anyways.

"W...what do you mean? How was he treated?" Iruka had to squeeze his eyes shut as he recalled the Hokage's words.

"Well, before Naruto was able to defend himself the villagers would often attack him at random times during the day. He was hospitalized several times and we had to place guards outside his room to make sure that nobody could sneak in and kill him in his weakened state. Then there's the many times that he'd return home from the academy to find his apartment trashed and his money stolen. Even on the days where none of that would happen, he always gets hateful glares, threats and insults from the people around him and they do anything they can to embarrass him and just make his life an all around living hell. Then there's the shop owners, most of whom won't even let him into their stores." Gohan lowered his head to look at the ground in sorrow and anger. Is this it? Is this what he fought to defend? Is this why he and his family and friends had to suffer fighting super powerful villains? Is this why his dad had to die? For people like this? Was Earth really worth all of the sacrifice? Gohan knew he shouldn't judge all of humanity by this, but from the things he'd had to study this type of thing was very common throughout the history of human kind.

"Why?" Gohan dared not look up as he knew at this very moment his eyes must be flashing between coal black and turquoise as he struggled to keep his rage under control. Even though he hadn't really spent much time around Naruto, he could tell that he didn't deserve treatment like this.

"I'm sorry Gohan, but it's forbidden by law for me to discuss it any further. Only Naruto can tell you, but I wouldn't count on it. He's never told anybody as far as I know. In fact, until his genin exams, even he was not to be told of it." Gohan shot his head up, not caring if his eyes were the wrong color or not.

"Why not? He should've at least been allowed to know why everybody hated him!" Iruka just shook his head sadly.

"I have no idea what the Hokage was thinking. What I do know is that anything he did was for Naruto's benefit. He cared for Naruto like nobody else did, but his duties as Hokage did not allow him to take Naruto in, so instead he gave him a weekly allowance and paid for him to live in an apartment, which he still lives in now."

"I see. Well, I'd better go see Sasuke. From what I've been told he might not be too happy with me for interfering with his fight, but I figure I should go find out for myself." Gohan stood up and headed outside, inwardly hoping that Sasuke wasn't as much like Vegeta as he was beginning to think.

Well, this certainly turned out much longer than expected. I just couldn't find a good stopping point for it, and I'm not even sure that I picked a good stopping point. Now then, how is Sasuke going to react when Gohan shows up in his room? Is Gohan gonna give him a senzu? Maybe, maybe not. You'll just have to wait and find out.


	6. Chapter 6

Sasuke was mad. No, he was furious. That man, the one he'd dedicated his life to killing had been right there in front of him. He'd been so close, so close to achieving his life's goal until...until he showed up! That Gohan kid. Sasuke growled loudly and slammed his good fist down on the bed. He hadn't been done yet! He was ready to get back up and attack but Gohan had gotten between him and his target, taking a powerful mental attack from Itachi's mangekyou sharingan that he was no doubt still suffering from. Well, as soon as they both were better, Sasuke would make him pay, not only for taking away his chance but for daring to do what he and his entire clan had failed to do. He'd bested Uchiha Itachi in battle. Sure he hadn't defeated him per se, but he'd actually managed to get a few solid hits on the man before succumbing to his doujutsu. Sasuke's train of thought was broken by a light knocking on his door. He growled again but invited his guest in, seeing as they probably wouldn't go away till they'd been in anyways. No doubt it was Sakura or some other girl here to wish him well and fawn over him like a piece of meat. He rolled his eyes at the thought but immediately twisted his face into a look of utter shock when none other than the source of his previous anger entered the room. Before the boy could take notice of Sasuke's shock he quickly leveled his most lethal death glare at him.

"I'm not even going to bother asking how you've already managed to recover from Tsukuyomi, but I really want to know why you're here." Gohan just raised an eyebrow at him but approached his bed. He reached into his gi and pulled out a small brown pouch, our of which he retrieved a small green bean. He retied the bag and put it back in his gi before offering the bean to Sasuke.

"This is a senzu bean, it'll heal all of your injuries and restore your energy." Sasuke hesitated before taking the bean, and shot Gohan a suspicious glare.

"And why are you giving me this? Don't tell me that you're taking pity on my condition, because I don't need anybody's pity." Gohan shook his head earnestly. What he was actually hoping for was that Sasuke would forgive his intrusion into his battle and allow them to co-exist peacefully.

"Nah, I just heard that you're probably pretty mad at me for interfering with your fight against that Itachi guy, and I was hoping we could let bygones be bygones?" Sasuke just snorted and ate the bean, instantly feeling its healing effects. His eyes involuntarily widened and he opened and closed the fist that had been shattered by Itachi when he'd attempted to hit him with his chidori. He leveled his gaze at Gohan and gave him a predatory smirk.

"Fight me." Gohan gasped in shock. Here Sasuke had just been healed of some pretty nasty injuries and he wanted to fight? Was this guy crazy?

"Why? Do you have something to prove here?" Sasuke chuckled a bit and looked out the window behind him.

"I want to test myself against the guy who successfully managed to hit my brother. Think of it as a friendly spar." Gohan groaned inwardly. Even though he really didn't feel much like a fight right now, this seemed to be the only way to get Sasuke to forget his anger, so he grudgingly accepted.

"I'll go find a doctor so they can come and give you permission to leave." Sasuke just snorted.

"I don't need their permission, I'm leaving anyways. Just wait for me outside and I'll be there when I'm ready." Gohan sighed and walked outside, waiting at the front of the hospital. He wasn't waiting more than five minutes before a fully clothed Sasuke joined him and led him to their destination. After a short walk, Gohan found that Sasuke had led him to the very training area where he'd been the other day when Vegeta and the others had tried to make him go home. Sasuke turned to him and gave him a serious look.

"I'm not going to hold back, so don't you hold back either. Understand?" Gohan mentally rolled his eyes as he nodded. Vegeta said almost the exact same thing anytime they sparred together, the prince always wanting to prove himself stronger than a mere third class baka's half breed son. Of course, he hadn't even come close to matching Gohan's super saiya-jin two power, though he was slowly but surely gaining on him in his first super saiya-jin form even if he did have to use his ultra super saiya-jin forms to do so.

"Alright, no holding back." Gohan agreed, but he was only going to use his base form. Technically that would be holding back, but at the same time his base form did have a limit, so he wouldn't be holding back for that form. Before he powered up though, he wanted to test Sasuke's abilities so he could get an idea of how long the fight would last. Not that it would last more than a few minutes anyways. At least, that's what Gohan assumed.

Both boys took their fighting stances, and Gohan was shocked when Sasuke's eyes changed from coal black to crimson, with three tear shaped markings in each eye. What was it with the people in this village and having weird eyes? His thoughts turned back to his stare down with Hyuuga Hiashi. The man had no pupils to speak of, only the whites and barely noticable white irises. He shuddered as his thoughts led him even further back to a fight with a Saiya-jin of legend, who'd been not only a powerhouse, but a tank of a man as well. The thing about him that stuck with Gohan the most though was his eyes. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. If that is the case, then perhaps Broli and the Hyuugas had no soul, as their eyes seemed to lead to an empty white void, completely empty of a soul. Wait, now that he remembered, he'd caught a small glimpse of the girl's eyes. Her irises had actually been much more pronounced, having a light lavender tint to them. While her eyes were still slightly creepy, they'd also been semi-attractive in their exoticness. Gohan shook his head to clear his thoughts. Now was not the time to be focusing on people's eyes. He had a spar to win after all.

Gohan smirked confidently at Sasuke and ran at him without warning. To his surprise, Sasuke managed to spin around as Gohan's fist was about to come into contact with his shoulder, leaving his backside open to attack. Sasuke capitalized on the opening by thrusting both open palms forcefully into Gohan's back, pushing more momentum into him than he'd been prepared for and causing him to stumble forward and almost fall. Gohan's sharp hearing picked up a slight whistling in the air and he stepped to the side to avoid a kunai and reached out with his left hand to catch another that had been heading towards his head. He spun around at Sasuke and smirked again as he twirled it around his finger. To Sasuke's horror he stopped spinning the kunai and simply squeezed it with one hand, snapping it in half.

"So, got any more toys for me to break?" His remark was met with a hail of shuriken that he simply dodged by disappearing. He reappeared behind Sasuke and attempted a kick to the back of his head but Sasuke ducked low to the ground so that he was supporting himself with his hands and kicked up, catching Gohan squarely in the jaw and forcing him high into the air. He quickly jumped after Gohan and caught up with him, kicking at his ribcage. Gohan blocked it with an arm but couldn't block the kick that came around from his other side and caught him just below the throat, sending him back towards the ground. Sasuke performed some midair maneuvering and sped up his descent to catch up to Gohan and formed his hands into one large fist, bringing them down onto Gohan's chest and knocking him to the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of him and make him bounce. Gohan got to his hands and knees, taking a moment to catch his breath before getting back on his feet and looking around for Sasuke. He heard a noise behind him and spun around in the hopes of catching him with an elbow strike but was caught off guard when his fist encountered no resistance and Sasuke simply shimmered and disappeared. Gohan frowned but then remembered the bunshin that Iruka had shown him during his studying earlier. Now that Gohan gave it some thought though, such a technique could be somewhat duplicated through the use of speed, also known as an afterimage. He kept note of this and stretched out his senses to try and locate the real Sasuke, but growled as he felt two energy sources that were identical. So, apparently these bunshin could fool someone looking for an energy source. A very useful technique indeed. He heard another kunai whistling towards him and just barely managed to dodge in time, though it still put a small tear in his gi where it'd caught him. He whirled around and instinctively fired a burst of energy in the direction it had come from, only to have that Sasuke disappear as well. Gohan furrowed his brow in concentration. From what he understood of these bunshin they were only projections of the user of the technique and couldn't really affect the material world, so that meant that Sasuke was probably hiding somewhere while pulling sneak attacks from the general direction of where the bunshin were. Gohan once again stretched out his senses, only this time concentrated further. He once again found two sources of energy, but upon further focusing noticed that one had a lot more energy than the other. He smirked and disappeared from view. He reappeared just inside the forest that bordered the training ground and saw Sasuke hiding behind a tree in front of him. He stealthily crept up to him until his mouth was right next to his ear.

"Gotcha!" Sasuke jumped and whirled around with an outstretched fist which Gohan caught with his own hand and with a grin disappeared and reappeared about ten feet above the ground with Sasuke still in his hold. He let him dangle for a few moments before he let him into a free fall, but Sasuke tucked himself in just in time and managed to roll, avoiding any serious injuries. Gohan rolled his eyes as he landed and another kunai sped towards him as soon as Sasuke recovered from his roll, but as the kunai streaked past him something caught his eye. There was some kind of tag attached to the handle of the kunai. He turned around and stared at it for a moment as it embedded itself in the ground behind him. His eyes widened and he quickly crossed his arms in front of his face as he felt energy within the tag become unstable and explode, sending smoke up into the air and obstructing his view. He rushed forward out of the smoke to meet with Sasuke's flying kick which he dodged, though too late to avoid a small cut to his face which drew a bit of blood. He smiled excitedly at Sasuke who just gave him a confident smirk as they stood there staring each other down.

"I must say Sasuke, you really are quite talented to keep catching me off guard like that. It's been a while since I've met somebody as skilled as you."

"Hn, you're not so bad yourself." His face quickly turned serious. "Even though we agreed to take this fight seriously we've both been holding back. I think it's time we stopped playing around and really put our skills to the test." Gohan nodded.

"That's fine with me. This fight has me excited." He could feel his Saiya-jin lust for battle burning in his blood, making his heart race and enhancing his senses. Even though he hated having to fight to protect people, this kind of fight he could really enjoy.

Sasuke suddenly smirked and reached into his tool pouch and withdrew two smoke bombs which he promptly threw to the ground, effectively cutting off both their views of each other and the surrounding area. He formed two bunshin, one of which ran off to Gohan's right side while the other stayed by Sasuke's side. He pulled out several shuriken and tossed them at where he knew Gohan to still be, then took off for Gohan's left side, effectively flanking him. Gohan decided it was in his best interest to not make a move until the smoke cleared, and so after he dodged the shuriken that had come at him, he let out a focused burst of energy that blew the entire cloud away, revealing three different Sasuke's. He wanted to assume that the one in front was the original, but he'd felt their energies shuffling around and so had no clue as to which one was real. Also, he now didn't have the time to find out with his ki sense as all three came running at him. He smirked and thrust one open palm forward and the other to his right, sending out bursts of energy that struck dead on, revealing both to being bunshin. That left the Sasuke on the left. Gohan turned to face the remaining Sasuke to see him moving his hands in strange patterns and then curling a fist around his mouth. He could see a smirk forming on Sasuke's face as he inhaled and added energy to his attack.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!" Gohan's eyes widened as Sasuke exhaled and an enormous ball of superheated air came rushing out of his mouth, leaving Gohan no choice but to cross his arms in front of his face and weather the attack. This was going to hurt like hell. The attack hit full force, knocking Gohan onto his back and leaving him to writhe in pain on the ground. He quickly collected himself as Sasuke jumped into the air and attempted to bring his heel down on Gohan's gut. Gohan rolled out of the way and sprang to his feet but Sasuke was ready and threw three shuriken, all of which stuck into Gohan, one in a leg, one in an arm and another in his chest. His already aching arm exploded in pain when he irritated it by removing the shuriken and tossing it to the ground. So, if Sasuke wanted a fight like that, he'd give him a fight he'd never forget. Gohan overlapped his palms over his forhead and gathered yellow energy in front of them.

"Masenko ha!" The energy wave flew out of his hands as he thrust his palms out in front of him and Sasuke attempted to jump over the attack, but Gohan guided it to explode on the ground below him, the force of the explosion knocking his ascension out of control. Gohan wasn't going to give him time to recover and cupped his hands at his side, a blue wave of energy growing in size as he called out the name of his father's favorite attack.

"Kamehameha!" he threw his arms forward, throwing the attack at a now defenseless Sasuke who could do nothing to dodge it so he attempted to overpower it. He went through the same hand seals as before and could only hope for the best as he launched another great fireball, but the kamehameha wave collided with and smashed right through it, hitting Sasuke dead on. He fell to the ground and just stayed still for a moment before struggling to his feet. He stood up and the grin of utter insanity and bloodlust on his face sent shivers down Gohan's spine.

"Well, it looks like you know some pretty deadly techniques Gohan. I bet that if this were a real fight I'd be dead right now. I guess I'm really going to have to pull out all the stops for this one." Gohan could feel an anomaly in Sasuke's energy as it began to burst higher and higher as strange flaming marks began to spread over his body. A purple aura exploded into view around him and the resulting shockwave of power nearly knocked Gohan off his feet and forced him to back up a few steps to remain standing. What kind of power was this? Was it a transformation? No, something felt off about this power radiating from Sasuke. Something...very wrong. He considered using Kai-o-ken, but not only would it not be enough power but it wouldn't last long enough to beat him anyways. Damn! This fight was getting way out of hand. Gohan had no more time to think as Sasuke was once again focusing his attention on him, something he wasn't ready for. He moved his hands through a series of seals and once again inhaled.

"Katon: Housenka no jutsu!" Instead of the gigantic fireball from before, this time Sasuke let out many small, yet clearly powerful fireballs in rapid succession, forcing Gohan to dance around in order to dodge them. This only left one problem though, and that was the fact that they were coming too fast and there were far too many to be dodged properly. So, eventually one of the fireballs struck Gohan's leg, burning right through his gi pants and scorching his leg. He cried out in pain as suddenly he was being hit by twenty different fireballs all over his body, leaving smoking holes in his clothes and adding even more burns to his already tortured body. He fell to one knee once the attack ended, panting heavily and trying desperately to ignore the searing pain he felt all over. He slowly managed to get back on his feet, but Sasuke was no longer in front of him. He sensed energy behind him but didn't have time to react before he was roughly shoved forward by two simultaneous open palm strikes to his back and barely had time to stagger forward before a punch to the chest sent him to the ground, skidding on his back and tearing both his gi and his back up in the process. He groaned and sluggishly staggered to his feet. This had to end now. Sasuke had clearly lost control and if the fight continued there may be at least one casualty. He sighed at the decision he came to. He'd hoped not to have to reveal this kind of power here, and he'd certainly never expected to have to use it against a human, but then this place seemed to be full of surprises.

"Alright Sasuke, this has gone on for too long. You're taking this fight way too seriously for me to continue treating it as a spar, so I"m going to have to stop you now." Sasuke gave him a conceited snort in response.

"Don't underestimate an Uchiha!" he'd been about to charge Gohan, but the look on his face stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Get ready Sasuke. Few people have ever even heard of what I'm about to show you, let alone seen it." Gohan clenched his fists at his sides and concentrated on the power he felt within himself, bringing it out. He smiled as he reached his max in his base form, but had to grunt in concentration as he poured out more and more. His muscles bulged slightly as Gohan's life energy strengthened them to the point where they had to expand. A yellow aura flickered in and out of existence a few times before catching and finally staying put.

"Haaaaaaa!" Gohan yelled out his concentration and the wind began to pick up as his aura intensified and his hair lifted up into gravity defying spikes and turned a golden blond color at the same time that his eyes turned to a soulless turquoise and his facial features hardened into those of a predator. There was an explosion and a blinding light as Gohan yelled out and completed his transformation. When Sasuke's vision cleared he saw before him what appeared to be an angel. An angel...of death. Gohan had transformed into a super Saiya-jin.

On the lookout, Piccolo had been contemplating his next move against Dende in a game of shogi when he suddenly shot up out of his seat and visibly tensed, sweat already forming on his brow. Dende looked up at him worriedly.

"Piccolo-sama? Is everything okay?" Piccolo looked down at him nervously.

"I...I don't know Dende. Can you feel it?" Dende just cocked his head quizzically, assuming he was talking about someone's power level.

"Heh, gomen sir but you know I'm not that good at sensing energy yet." Piccolo mentally slapped himself for forgetting, but decided he'd rectify that later. A guardian of Earth after all, should be able to sense the energies of the charges he was bound to look after. He only gave that thought a moment though, as there were pressing matters that needed attending to.

"It's Gohan. He's...transformed into a super Saiya-jin. He's only at a fraction of his power, only about as much as Goku's level on Namek, but if even that much power is needed, it could spell trouble. I'm going to check it out." He hurried out of Kami's palace and took off at top speed towards where he sensed Gohan's energy, thankfully in the same place he'd come to pick up those idiots who'd allowed Chichi to manipulate them into trying to force him to return home. He was a little more worried than he'd let on to Dende though. He could tell through his and Gohan's bond that the boy was in pain, yet he could not sense the energy of whoever his opponent was.

"Don't tell me it's another android! Hang on Gohan, I'll be there in a few minutes."

His madness forgotten, Sasuke could only stare at Gohan with wide eyes. He'd never seen anything like this before.

"What...are you?" Gohan frowned at his comment.

"I could ask you the same question. Just look at yourself." Sasuke looked down at himself and grimaced in pain as everything came back to him. Yes, this was the guy who'd hit his brother. If he could beat this guy, then surely he'd be strong enough to kill his brother. The bloodthirsty look returned to his eyes and he rushed at Gohan with a punch aimed at breaking his nose, but Gohan easily batted the fist aside and countered with his own to Sasuke's jaw, forcing him back a step and causing him to bite his lip hard enough to draw blood. Sasuke quickly recovered and feinted a punch at Gohan's ribcage, only to get him in the gut when he fell for it. Gohan doubled over his fist and gagged before Sasuke gave him a right hook to the jaw, sending him skidding towards the lake. Gohan wearily got to his feet and his eyes widened at the stance that Sasuke had taken. The sound of a thousand birds chirping filled the air as Sasuke dropped his arm towards the ground with his palm facing Gohan and an orb of semi-electrical energy formed in his hand. He grinned maniacally as he charged at Gohan, running at full speed.

"Chidori!" Gohan's eyes widened in fear. If he managed to hit with that attack, even with his super Saiya-jin power, he'd almost certainly die. Sasuke was too close and moving too fast for Gohan to dodge, and as his mind sped through possible outs, Sasuke was suddenly only five feet away. Time seemed to slow to a crawl for Gohan as he could feel the power radiating off the attack as Sasuke inched closer and closer to him. Just as he'd been about to impale Gohan, an explosion to Sasuke's left sent him flying towards and into the lake, causing him to lose control of the chidori. The resulting explosion sent a massive wave out in all directions, soaking Gohan as part of it raced over the land. He fell to his knees as his super Saiya-jin power left him and he just knelt there, completely dazed at his near death experience. A gruff voice to his left brought him to his senses and he turned to see Piccolo walking towards him.

"You alright kid? That was a close one." Gohan could only nod in response. Both fighters tensed at the sound of someone crawling out of the lake and Piccolo made to attack but Gohan stopped him after catching a quick glimpse of a now normal Sasuke crawling on all fours out of the lake and seeing him fall unconscious. Piccolo gave him an odd look.

"Why are you saving that guy? He almost killed you." Gohan slowly shook his head.

"It's alright now, Piccolo. He just lost control like I did...before." Piccolo nodded in understanding, but one question was still bothering him.

"Why couldn't I sense his energy? I felt you transform and I could tell that you were hurt, but I couldn't sense the energy of your opponent, and yet now I can feel his energy just fine. I'm also wondering how a mere human could force you to transform like that." Gohan just shook his head again.

"I'm not too sure Piccolo. I'm only just starting to learn about this place. What I do know is that they use a different kind of energy than we do. They use something called chakra which is a mixture of both ki and spiritual energy. Maybe somehow the use of the spiritual energy interferes with long distance sensing abilities? As far as how he's so strong? I don't know, but I'll tell you that I didn't beat Vegeta, Tien, Yamcha and Krillin by myself. I actually had someone helping me. As a matter of fact, I only fought Vegeta. The other guy beat the other three on his own." Piccolo's eyes widened at this statement. Tien, Yamcha, Krilllin and Tien's midget friend Chiaoutzu were supposed to be the strongest humans alive. Could he and the others all been wrong this entire time? It didn't seem possible and yet...here was solid proof. Perhaps the human race had been underestimated all along. Piccolo took a good look at Gohan and could tell the boy was close to losing consciousness, his injuries finally catching up to him.

"Do you want a senzu?" Gohan shook his head.

"Take me to Dende please. I've already used two of my five senzu beans and I don't want to waste any more. Just bring me back here after he's done." Piccolo nodded as he allowed a small smile to form for his student. Gohan smiled back, always glad when Piccolo showed him the side that nobody else ever got to see.

"Thank you...Piccolo-sensei." Gohan muttered before falling unconscious. Piccolo lifted him up over his shoulder and was about to take off when he sensed another presence nearby. There was a puff of smoke and a silver haired man with a mask and a headband with a leaf on it covering one of his eyes appeared. Kakashi eyed Piccolo warily.

"It seems these two were playing a little too roughly." Piccolo just snorted in response. "And just what are your intentions with Gohan-kun? If you intend to harm him I'm afraid I'll have to interfere." It was then he noted that the green man before him wore the same style of fighting outfit that Gohan wore. "I see. Do you know him?"

"Hn. I'm his teacher. And as far as 'playing', Gohan is lucky I showed up when I did. That boy over there almost killed him." Kakashi's visible eye widened as he looked over at Sasuke.

"Did he now? It seems that he's got much to learn yet." Piccolo bared his fangs in a toothy and unpleasant predatory grin.

"The boy's lucky Gohan stood up for him. I would've killed him myself if he hadn't asked me not to. He said he'd lost control." Kakashi's eye narrowed at hearing this and he walked over to Sasuke and rolled him over onto his back. He then pushed back his shirt to reveal three tear shaped marks forming a circle and noted the absence of the seal he'd placed on it during the chunin exams.

"Damn! It's that cursed seal of his. Apparently his willpower isn't as strong as everyone seems to think..." Piccolo idly wondered what a cursed seal could be, but Gohan's injuries took precedence.

"I'm taking Gohan to get healed. I'll return him here once it's done." Kakashi nodded and picked up Sasuke, disappearing in a puff of smoke. Piccolo mentally decided that the people living here needed further investigation as he took off for Kami's lookout.

Well there you have it people. I hope this chapter made up for any disappointments in the fights between Gohan and Vegeta and Gai and Krillin, Yamcha and Tien. Either way, I hope this chapter was enjoyable.


	7. Chapter 7

Gohan's senses slowly returned to him and the first thing he noticed was that he was laying on the ground. He opened his eyes and waited a few moments for his blurry vision to return to focus. Once he'd regained his bearings and took a look around to verify his surroundings. A lake at one end, a forest at the other, and lots of grass. He was in the Konoha training ground where he'd just fought Sasuke. After a moment of concentration, he realized that all of his wounds had been healed. So Piccolo had taken him back after all. He was grateful, but had hoped that Piccolo would've stuck around for a while so that they could discuss what Gohan had found out so far about the shinobi world. Ah well, no doubt Piccolo would be meditating on how a mere human had forced him to transform and still had almost killed him. They'd talk about it eventually, perhaps even looking for some people to recruit to their team. It would be nice if the Earth no longer had to depend solely on the Saiya-jins to protect it from powerful enemies and could instead rely on its own native inhabitants to take care of it. Gohan hoped that such a thing could come to fruition. He really didn't have the boundless confidence of his father or most of the other fighters that protected the planet. Heck, even Krillin was more confident in his own abilities and everyone knew how little the man thought of himself. The only difference between the two was that Krillin either didn't bother to hide it or was really bad at doing so. Sure some of it slipped out of Gohan at times, but he was sure that everyone would look down on him as a failure if they realized how bad it really was, especially after the Cell games.

Sighing, Gohan got to his feet and dusted himself off, noting that Piccolo had not gotten him new garments. He sighed and removed his weighted cape along with his tattered gi top. He'd have to return to Iruka-sensei's house and retrieve one of his spare gis and then come back and get his cape. He turned around when a noise from behind alerted him to someone's presence, and he saw the girl he'd helped earlier. He'd been told her name was Hinata, and that she was part of the most prestigious clan in the village. The way she now carried herself however, spoke of the exact opposite. That and the way her father had treated her earlier made her seem more like a village outcast than anything else. She was now timidly making her way towards him from the direction of the woods, leaving Gohan to wonder what she'd been doing there. Gohan smiled at Hinata and walked over to meet her.

"Hello, Hinata-sama. How are you doing?" Hinata blushed at the honorific he'd attached to her name. Nobody called her Hinata-sama, except for a few outside the clan who knew how she was treated and felt bad for her and the Branch family who didn't have a choice. It seemed that everybody knew what a failure she was. She took a good look at him and noticed that he had a well toned body for someone of his age, and also that he had a lot of scars that were hidden by his clothes. She decided not to ask him about them, figuring that he'd be upset about her intruding into his personal affairs.

"H...hello, Gohan-san. I am d...doing well, thank you." Gohan gave her his biggest grin, hoping to lighten her spirits a bit.

"Would you like to walk with me Hinata-sama? I'm new to this village so I'd like to make as many friends as I can." Hinata stared at him in shock. He...wanted to be her friend? Of course he would, not knowing how much of an embarrassment she was. She'd take him up on his offer though, hoping to be his friend for at least a little while. He did after all help her and stick up for her, in front of her father no less.

"S...sure I'd like that." Gohan beamed at her.

"Great! I'm just going to Iruka-sensei's place for a minute so I can change into better clothes and then I'm coming back here for my cape." He turned around and headed back towards the main part of the village with Hinata falling into step beside him. "So, I hear you're part of the Hyuuga clan eh? I'm still learning a lot of stuff about the shinobi way of life, but from what I've heard and read you guys are pretty strong fighters." Hinata's gaze shifted downwards as she was reminded of how weak she was in comparison to the rest of her clan.

"A...ano, the rest of the clan is strong, but I'm not all that good at fighting."

"Really? Is that what everyone tells you?" Hinata considered his words for a moment before answering, trying to recall who all had told her about how disappointing she was.

"W...well, my Otou-san tells me a lot and Neji nii-san used to tell me as well, but everybody knows I'm weak. That's what my Tou-san told me." Gohan narrowed his eyes at the thought of Hiashi mentally abusing her like that, but didn't say anything. Gohan stopped and turned himself so that he was in front of Hinata and put his hands on her shoulders, hoping she wouldn't get mad at him for the unwarranted contact. He winced as she tensed, but was glad she didn't get mad.

"Listen to me Hinata-sama. Don't assume that what your father is telling you is true. He can't possibly read the minds of everybody in this village. There has to be at least one person that thinks you're worth something." Hinata blushed several shades of red as she thought of a certain blond haired blue eyed ninja that was said to be currently helping find the village a new Hokage.

"W...well, there is N...Naruto-kun. H...he said th...that he could like someone like m...me."

"Now see there? If at least one person thinks you're worthwhile then it must be true. Besides, I know somebody that's just like your father. He and my father were part of the same clan that was completely wiped out except for the two of them several years ago. My father was considered part of the lowest class of the clan and the other guy was the heir. He was always looking down on my dad and saying that he could never amount to anything because of his class and yet my dad fought and defeated him. Do you see what I mean? Just because somebody tells you that you'll never go anywhere in life doesn't mean you have to listen to them and allow it to happen." Hinata's eyes widened in shock at his words and could barely manage a nod.

"Th...thank you Gohan-san. I will keep your words in mind." Gohan smiled sadly at her, having some understanding of the situation she was stuck in. It sounded so easy, what he'd told her, yet in reality it would be one of the hardest things she could possibly do. He was certain however, that if she had enough people standing by her she could overcome it and become strong willed. He returned to his place at her side and they continued their walk to Iruka's, which took them about fifteen minutes.

"Just give me a minute to change and I'll be right back." A few minutes later he came back out dressed in an exact replica of the clothes he'd been wearing before, leaving Hinata to let out a breath of relief and hoping he wouldn't note her lack of a blush and think she'd gone pale. She had after all, been blushing ever since he'd turned around and seen her back in the training area. "Alright, let's go." He walked back to her side and they began to walk away but were stopped as Iruka came running up to them from the direction of the Hokage's tower.

"Hey Gohan, I've got some good news for you!" He called out as he caught up to them.

"What's up Iruka-sensei?" Iruka gave a brief nod to Hinata before turning his attention back to Gohan.

"I've gone before the village council for permission to make you a leaf shinobi once I've decided you're ready and they agreed as long as you'll give them an interview."

"That's great Iruka-sensei. When do they want to interview me?"

"Well, right now if you're available."

"Alright, just give me a couple of minutes to go get my cape and I'll be back." Gohan took off running at top speed, astounding both Hinata and Iruka. Iruka just blinked a moment before speaking.

"Wow, he's fast." Hinata just nodded in agreement. She wondered how he could be new to the ways of shinobi yet still be so fast. Such speed after all, only came with a lot of intense training. "So, what were you guys up to? Just out for a walk?"

"H..hai. Gohan-san came back here for a new set of clothes. He and Sasuke-san had a s...sparring match and his gi was d...damaged." Iruka furrowed his brows in confusion.

"But...that can't be right. From what I heard Sasuke was supposed to be in the hospital for at least a couple of weeks. How could he have gotten out already?" Hinata lowered her gaze to the ground.

"I'm n..not sure Iruka-sensei, but Sasuke-san didn't seem to be acting like it was a spar." Iruka wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to what he was about to ask, but he had to ask.

"Why is that Hinata-sama?" Hinata paled as she remembered watching the fight from the safety of the forest, though she'd almost been caught up in it when Gohan had caught on to Sasuke's bunshin strategy and had to move further in until they'd taken the fight back out in the open.

"Ano, Sasuke-san was using h..high level ninjutsu like katon: goukakyuu no jutsu and katon: housenka no jutsu. Th..then at the end he had strange m..markings all over his body and he started beating on Gohan-san really badly. I..I left then to find Kakashi-sensei and get him to make Sasuke-san stop." Iruka's eyes became as wide as dinner plates and he visibly paled at her description of Sasuke's body towards the end. He...he'd used the cursed seal? Was he trying to kill Gohan? He'd have to discuss this with Kakashi. One other thing was bothering him though. If all of this had happened, how had Gohan already recovered from all of his injuries? It had only two hours since Gohan had left his house and he was sure that such an intense battle would have left more than just a few minor cuts and bruises. Gohan chose that moment to return from the training area, cutting off Iruka's train of thought save for that last question. Gohan gave him a questioning look when he saw the serious expression on Iruka's face.

"Is something wrong Iruka-sensei?" Iruka shook his head to clear his thoughts and smiled at Gohan.

"Not really, but there is something I wanted to ask you though." Gohan cocked his head and waited for him to continue. "Hinata here says you were just in a very intense fight with Sasuke. How is it that you've already recovered from your injuries?" Gohan suddenly looked as pale as a ghost and he gave Hinata a terrified look.

"Y...you saw? How much did you see?" He couldn't afford to have everybody know of his abilities yet. Hinata and Iruka were confused by his reaction. Was he worried about Sasuke?

"I...I didn't see anything after Sasuke-san was beating you up because I went to get Kakashi-sensei." Gohan let out a breath he hadn't even known he was holding and relaxed. Iruka gave him a concerned look and Gohan figured he'd better address that now before it turned into questions he wasn't ready to answer yet.

"There are some things about me that I'm not ready for anybody else to know yet, and I had to reveal some of those things during that fight in order to keep Sasuke from killing me." Iruka narrowed his eyes as Gohan affirmed his suspicions. So, Sasuke had been trying to kill him after all. He cleared his throat and decided he'd deal with that matter at a more convenient time.

"Anyways, are you ready to go meet the council Gohan?" Gohan nodded his head, but seemed to think of something and asked Iruka if Hinata could go as well, if she didn't mind. Iruka said she could, but that she couldn't go into the interview with him. Iruka asked Hinata if she wanted to go and she said that she wouldn't mind, having nothing better to do and not really wanting to go home and deal with her family, so the trio left for the Hokage's tower with Iruka in the lead. Iruka led them inside the tower and asked Hinata to wait at the front entrance while he led Gohan to the second highest floor and into a room with a long table that was clearly designed for meetings. There were around twenty people seated at the table, among them were several village elders as well as heads of many of Konoha's most influential families. Iruka gestured Gohan into a seat at the head of the table and moved to a position where the council could see and hear him. He noted that at least one member of the council, namely Hyuuga Hiashi, was making sure to give Gohan a pointed glare. Iruka cleared his throat, bringing all eyes to him and began speaking.

"Greetings, wise council. I am here to speak on behalf of young Gohan-kun here who has expressed a desire to become a part of our village. I'm sure you all have a few questions for the boy, but first let me make an argument in his favor that will hopefully show you that he is not an enemy." Iruka clasped his hands behind his back and began pacing the room.

"As the reports have it, two days ago Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigake Kisame made an attempt to capture Uzumaki Naruto while his current teacher and guardian, Jiraiya-sama of the sannin was away from him on some business or other. It seems that somehow Uchiha Sasuke got wind of his brother's proximity to Naruto and this village and made an attempt to intercept and defeat him. This attempt would most likely have ended very badly for Sasuke had Gohan not fought off his brother, an S-class missing nin, until Jiraiya-sama was able to intervene and drive both him and Kisame off. Now, keep in mind that not only did he save the life of one of our shinobi, but also ensured that the planned capture of Naruto did not succeed. Now, this encounter did not go easily for Gohan, as he suffered a severe psychological attack from Itachi's sharingan and was taken to the hospital by Maito Gai." Iruka took a respectful bow and looked each council member in the eye. "I thank you for taking the time to listen to what I had to say. Now, does the council have any questions?" Most of the council members had heard enough, but there was one who would not be bought so easily. This man of course, being Hyuuga Hiashi, the only member who did not hold the Uchiha in such high regard as to blindly trust someone just because they had saved Sasuke's life. Hiashi leveled a glare at Iruka and then Gohan before he spoke.

"Actually, I was wondering why it is this boy wishes to stay here in Konoha. Surely he already has a home to go back to. In fact, it makes me more suspicious when I hear that he saved that Uzumaki Naruto, the demon brat." Iruka shot Hiashi the most hateful glare he could muster upon hearing those last two venomous words and the smirk that had crossed the man's face when the rest of the council broke out in heated arguments about whether or not Gohan could be trusted. He cleared his throat loudly, silencing the council and struggled to control his voice as he addressed Hiashi.

"With all due respect councilor, I wonder if perhaps you should get to know Naruto before making such accusations toward his character. I have had the honor of teaching the boy, and have seen for myself that he is no demon." Hiashi laughed Harshly.

"And what makes you think that we, the council, will listen to a mere chunin?" This threw Iruka into a rage at the utter disrespect he was being shown just because of his rank and he struggled to remain quiet so as not to say anything to get himself kicked out of the meeting or worse. All eyes were drawn to the opposite side of the room as a calm voice addressed everyone in the room.

"Well then, maybe the council will be willing to listen to me, or is a mere jounin also not worth listening to?" Hiashi growled at the interruption but frowned when he saw who it was.

"Hatake Kakashi? What do you want? Nobody summoned you here." This was beginning to look bad for Hiashi. He could argue against a relatively unknown chunin ike Iruka, but the council would be far more willing to listen to a prodigy like Kakashi. Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow at Hiashi before addressing him.

"Oh, hello there Hiashi-_sama_. I didn't see you there." The sarcasm in Kakashi's voice did not escape anyone in the room and most of the council chuckled at his taunting of the Hyuuga. Hiashi looked like he was about ready to burst a blood vessel, but cleared his throat and composed himself before speaking.

"Well, now that you know who all is here, do you have something to say or are you just going to waste our time?" Kakashi's visible eye curved in a way that clearly showed he was smiling, though more than a few of the council got the feeling that pleasant was the last word that could be used to describe it. He seemed a little too...cheery considering the topic at hand.

"Actually, if the council will allow it I do have a few words I'd like to share on this subject matter. Although, as it would seem Hiashi-sama has managed to drag the topic away from its original intent, I shall be speaking mostly on Gohan's behalf." Hiashi took on an impassive look, not letting any emotion show, though inwardly he was fuming. How dare he interfere!

"Very well, Hatake Kakashi, you may speak." Kakashi nodded in respect and moved to the front of the room with Iruka. He really didn't like what he was about to say, as it disgusted him that it was even necessary, but it was the only way to get the council to see things his way. Manipulation, after all, was something a true shinobi should excel at.

"Thank you. Now, I would like you all to consider something before you jump to conclusions about Gohan just because he aided Naruto. Gohan knows little about Naruto, including certain facts that seem to have made him an enemy of his own village. When Gohan stopped Akatsuki from abducting Naruto and killing Sasuke, he only saw two people that he felt needed protection, and so that's exactly what he did. Now, I also want you to consider the possibilities of what could have happened had Naruto fallen into Akatsuki's hands. We know next to nothing of this organization save that it is made up of S-class missing nin and that Uchiha Itachi is a member. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want any of our shinobi falling into those kinds of hands, especially someone like Naruto. The council must not let their emotions cloud their judgment in this issue, and instead must approach it from a logical standpoint. Oh yes, and there was an incident in the village since Gohan has arrived here that was not mentioned in the reports." Several eyebrows were raised at this, and Hiashi had a sinking feeling that he knew where Kakashi was headed with this. Damn that man!

"While I was escorting him to Umino Iruka's place of residence, we heard a cry of distress and Gohan immediately raced to the person's side to help them up, much to the disdain of Hiashi-sama here, as said person happened to be Hyuuga Hinata. Once Hiashi-sama began harshly berating his daughter for her clumsiness, Gohan jumped to her defense and stood up to Hiashi-sama without backing down. Now, from what I have heard and seen of Gohan I see no reason not to allow him to become a shinobi. Furthermore, I would be willing to take responsibility for him by adding him to my team in order to take missions. That is all I wish to say, thank you for listening." Kakashi walked over to a wall and leaned against it, waiting to see what would happen next and wanting to witness their decision first hand.

Hiashi stood up from his chair and motioned for Gohan to do the same. He leveled an angry glare at Gohan as he proceeded to question him.

"Now, Gohan-san, I would like to ask you a few questions before the council makes its decision. Is that okay with you?" Gohan simply nodded and waited. Hiashi formed his hands into a seal and the veins in and around his eyes bulged, nearly forcing Gohan to take a step back out of shock. Hiashi smirked as he could read Gohan's every emotion thanks to his byakugan. "Good. Now, for my first question I would like to go back to an earlier part of this meeting. Why are you here? What do you hope to gain by staying in this village?" Gohan didn't even need to think, as he'd already answered this question in a couple different forms.

"Because I want to become stronger. I want to learn as much about fighting as I can so that I can protect the people that are important to me. Also, now that I've become aware of the shinobi lifestyle, I want to learn as much about it as I can, because I find it interesting." This answer seemed to satisfy the council, so Hiashi continued.

"To protect the people important to you hm? That sounds like quite a noble goal for somebody as young as yourself. From where did you pick up this goal?" This brought a small smile to Gohan's lips as he thought back to right after the fight with Vegeta and Nappa when Goku began instilling in him the will to fight for others and not for himself.

"I got it from my dad. He always told me to use my strength to defend people and never to go out of my way to hurt anybody that I didn't have to." Hiashi nodded and moved on to the next question.

"Your father sounds like a good man. Why are you here now instead of with him?" Gohan clenched his eyes shut and fought to keep his thoughts from going back to that day.

"Because my father died fighting a powerful enemy a year and a half ago. That's why I want to become stronger, because it's up to me to protect my mom and little brother now." Hiashi continued his questioning, watching him the entire time to catch any signs of deception, no matter how small.

"Why did you need to leave home? Could you not become stronger there, with people you know?" Gohan shook his head.

"My mom doesn't like it when I train so she tries to make me study all the time and she doesn't like it when any of my dad's friends or my sensei come around."

"I see. So why don't you stay with your sensei? Have you only had one teacher? What kind of training have you received?" Gohan had to think about this one for a moment, trying to decide how much and what he should divulge.

"I don't stay with my sensei because he said that he no longer has anything to teach me. All that we can do now is spar, and I can't even go all out against him because I have surpassed him in strength. As far as senseis go, I've only had two, my father and Piccolo-sensei. As far as kinds of training, I've been trained in two different fighting styles, I had survival training for several months, and I've had extensive training in the use of energy." Everybody present was mentally reeling from what they'd just been told. This boy couldn't be any older than one of their genin and yet from what he'd just said he's already had several years of training, something the shinobi didn't get until they'd been put on their teams once they'd left the academy. Sure there was some training from family members, especially in the more renowned families, but this boy had more fighting history than most chunin. Hiashi was curious about Gohan's energy training, so he decided to base his next question off of that.

"You say you've had energy training. Do you mean to say that you can use chakra?" Even with his byakugan active, Hiashi was having trouble discerning if this boy could use chakra or not. His chakra coils seemed huge for someone of his age, yet there didn't actually seem to be much of it in him. Either he'd learned to suppress it or he used some other form of energy that somehow inadvertently affected his chakra system. Also, his tenketsu were completely off from what they should be. He actually seemed to have more of them than other people and they also seemed to be located differently. Also, Hiashi noted that towards his tail bone there seemed to be some type of cut off point in his circulatory system, almost as if he'd had an appendage there of some kind...

"No, not chakra. It's something similar if what Jiraiya showed me is normal. I use an energy called ki. This time Hiashi couldn't keep the shock off of his face. He'd never met any ki users in his life, but from what he knew, the physical half of chakra could be extremely destructive if used on its own and supposedly it was much more difficult to master and took much longer than chakra to be able to use. There should be no way for this boy to do what he claimed and yet...Hiashi could sense no deception.

"Could you perhaps demonstrate a few techniques for us?" Gohan grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, I could show you a little bit, but not much because I might break something in here." He was suddenly levitating in the air and raised himself up so that his head was almost touching the ceiling. He then formed a small orb of energy in his hand and threw it towards the opposite wall, and proceeded to guide it around the room, much to the amazement of everyone present. He brought it back into his waiting hand and let it dissipate before slowly lowering himself back to the ground. "Are there any more questions Hiashi-sama?" Hiashi had to shake his head to clear his thoughts and decided that Gohan had no intention of lying to them, and held no malice that he could detect, so he shook his head again. He still didn't like the boy though.

"That will be all. Now the council must come to a decision." He cleared his throat and turned his attention to the other members of the council. "Now then, we have two issues on which to vote. Number one is whether or not we will allow Gohan to become a leaf shinobi under the tutelage of Umino Iruka and number two is if we will allow Hatake Kakashi to take him on as a fourth member of his team. I will only vote if there is a tie." He took a quick look around the room before continuing.

"Now then, will anybody make a motion?" A man with blond hair tied down in a ponytail raised his right hand. Hiashi nodded towards him. "Yamanaka Inoichi, what is your motion?"

"I make a motion to allow the young man into our village as a shinobi."

"Very well. Will anybody second that motion?" There were several seconds of silence before a rather lazy looking man with a few ragged scars on his face raised his right hand. Hiashi raised an eyebrow at this.

"Nara Shikaku? Are you seconding the motion?" Shikaku just sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, it's troublesome but it didn't look like anybody else was going to do it."

"Very well, we have our motion and a second. Now, all who favor this decision signify by raising their right hand." All of the council, save for two of the elders raised their hands.

"All opposed?" The remaining two sheepishly raised their hands. "The motion has passed. All opposition has been duly noted. Now then, on to issue number two. Would anybody like to make a motion?" An odd looking man wearing a trench coat with a high collar and sunglasses raised his hand.

"Aburame Shibi, what is your motion?"

"I motion to place Gohan under Hatake Kakashi's leadership."

"Anybody want to second that?" One of the elders who had opposed the first motion silently raised their hand and then lowered it.

"All who favor the motion signify by raising their right hand." This time, all hands went up into the air. It seemed that the council was placing quite a bit of trust in Kakashi's abilities.

"All opposed?" Nobody raised their hands. "I see none, so this motion has passed as well. Now then, does anybody have anything to say before we dismiss?" Kakashi stepped forward.

"Actually Hiashi-sama, I have something I wish to say to you." Before anybody could react, Kakashi was on the table kneeling in front of Hiashi with his sharingan exposed. The three tomoe circled around his pupil as he spoke in an almost pleasant voice were it not for the killer intent he laced it with. It took all of Hiashi's willpower not to fall over backwards out of shock and even a bit of fright. Even being a Hyuuga, one had to be ready for an attack in order to defend against it after all.

"Under no circumstances are you to ever use one of my students to sway the council in your favor again. If you do, even your precious byakugan will not save you. Am I clear on that?" Hiashi kept his face impassive, but nodded nervously nonetheless. Kakashi could be very intimidating when he wanted to be. Of course, that was to be expected from one of Konoha's elite jounin and ex anbu member. Hiashi blinked and suddenly realized that Kakashi was no longer in front of him, but was instead back in his former position with his sharingan once again covered, waiting for the official dismissal of the meeting. Hiashi stood up and cleared his throat.

"The council has made its decision. Gohan is to be allowed to become a Konoha shinobi as soon as Umino Iruka deems him ready. Furthermore, upon becoming a genin, he shall be placed into team seven under Hatake Kakashi's leadership. This meeting is now adjourned." Everyone rose from their seats and slowly made their way out of the room, Gohan and Iruka leaving last with Kakashi disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Gohan and Iruka made their way out of the tower, meeting up with Hinata at the entrance before Iruka took them to a place called Ichiraku's. He explained to Gohan that this was Naruto's favorite place to eat in the village and that it was also the best ramen shop in town. As they sat down Gohan decided he'd only eat one bowl, still being mostly full from the senzu he'd taken while in the hospital.

As soon as Gohan had taken a good look at old man Ichiraku, he knew why Naruto liked this place so much. Even if the food were only mediocre, he emitted a grandfatherly aura that seemed as though it could put any troubled soul at ease. If what Iruka had told him was true, and Naruto was treated badly by most of the villagers, then this was probably one of the few people that actually treated him like a human being. They each made their orders and Iruka turned his attention to Gohan.

"So, what do you plan to do now Gohan? Other than become a genin, of course." Gohan looked thoughtful for a moment before giving his answer.

"Well, actually I'm hoping to learn how to use chakra as quickly as possible because I want to catch up with Naruto and Jiraiya if I can. Jiraiya said he'd teach me the same technique he's gonna teach Naruto." Iruka looked at him seriously.

"There's one thing you need to know before becoming a genin. Once you become a shinobi you can't just leave the village at any time you please. If you do leave and your absence is noticed, you will become a missing nin, which means you are a criminal. You'll need the permission of the council to leave the village, and they won't be likely to give it while we're in such a weakened state. You could get permission from the next Hokage once a new one steps up, but that might be a long time from now."

"Well, if that's the case then just wait to give me the headband, that way I won't officially be a ninja yet. Then if someone misses me you can tell them that I wasn't ready yet and I'm out looking for some extra lessons or something." Iruka gave the idea some thought as old man Ichiraku brought their ramen. After taking a few bites he nodded.

"That would probably work, but you'd need to be careful not to be caught leaving or entering the village in that case because the council might have someone or multiple someones keeping an eye on you." Gohan just shrugged.

"That shouldn't be too hard. One thing I learned during my wilderness training was how to be stealthy when the situation arose. I did have to hunt for my own food and avoid predators after all."

"So, you were just out in the wilderness on your own then? You didn't have anybody with you at all?" Gohan shook his head.

"I know my sensei was watching over me, but he never helped me."

"So...was your training recent then?" Gohan looked down as he thought back to that year and shook his head.

"I was only four when I had to do that. I was out in the wilderness for several months and then my sensei taught me how to fight and use ki for the rest of that year." Hinata let out a horrified eep and Iruka nearly choked on his ramen when Gohan mentioned how old he'd been. Not even the toughest shinobi villages started their academy students out in survival training that young, and even when they did there was always a group of them with a teacher by their side at all times. At seeing and hearing their expressions Gohan figured he'd better elaborate lest somebody have a heart attack. "Well, we didn't really have a choice at that time. We had a really powerful enemy coming in one year and we needed all the fighters we could get. Besides that, my sensei saw some kind of hidden potential in me that he wanted to bring out." Iruka thought he was going to faint.

"But...that would've only left you at five years old! Nobody should have to fight at that young of an age!" Gohan just gave an indifferent shrug.

"Well, in the end I only managed to get a few good hits in anyways, but I managed to help stall the enemy until my dad was able to get to the fight and take over." Hinata took this moment to gather her courage and ask Gohan something she'd been wondering about.

"G...Gohan-san?" He turned and gave her a quizzical look.

"What is it Hinata-sama?" She put her index fingers together and began pushing them against each other, a nervous habit she'd had for a long time.

"Is that w...where you got all those scars?" Gohan quirked an eyebrow, momentarily wondering what she was talking about. Then it struck him. He'd forgotten that she'd seen him earlier without his gi top since he'd gotten rid of it since it was shredded beyond usefulness. This caught Iruka's attention.

"Scars? Under your gi?" Gohan let out a nervous laugh and lifted up his shirt, turning around so that Iruka could get a good look. His eyes became as wide as dinner plates as he saw the many large and jagged looking scars that covered his abdomen. What...what had this boy been through? Most jounin he knew didn't have that many scars, let alone genin. He struggled to keep his voice straight as he spoke.

"You...you must've been through some rough battles." Gohan nodded sheepishly.

"I've pretty much been constantly fighting or training for upcoming fights since I was four." Iruka nearly fell out of his seat. That mean he had about as much battle experience as a lot of higher level chunin. Iruka quickly returned his attention to his ramen and went back to eating it, signaling the end of the discussion. He wasn't sure how much more he could stand hearing. Not even the hidden mist village was that rough on their young, and they were known to be the toughest village to become a genin in. He wondered how it could be that Gohan hadn't lost his sanity from being exposed to so much violence at such a young age. They finished the rest of their meals in silence, each lost in his or her own thoughts until they finished at about the same time and Iruka paid the bill. Hinata was surprisingly the first one to speak.

"Ano...I have to go now, it's almost time for my training." Gohan pouted a little, as he'd been hoping to have a little more time to get to know her. He offered to walk her home, and she agreed with an embarrassed blush as they bid their goodbyes to Iruka and left the ramen stand together.

They walked through Konoha in silence, enjoying the sights and sounds of the bustling village as they made their way to the Hyuuga compound. Along the way, they passed a bar that had what looked like a group of about six drunken civilian men and a leaf nin arguing loudly out in front. Out of the corner of his eye, Gohan saw the ninja point to him which drew the attention of the villagers. After they'd gone a ways away, Gohan could sense that they'd begun following him and Hinata. They left the crowded market area of the village and found themselves in a more open residential area with little to no crowd to hide in, so Gohan pulled Hinata into a wide alley between two buildings and hid around the back corner of one of the buildings, putting their backs against a tall wooden privacy fence. When he sensed the villagers stop at the end of the alley, Gohan motioned for Hinata to stay put and walked out into plain view. The villagers were currently looking away from Gohan, so he called out to them.

"Is there something I can help you guys with? I noticed you following me earlier." The men turned around and sneered at him. A tall and muscular man, no doubt the leader, stepped forward and cracked his knuckles.

"As a matter of fact, there is something you can help us with kid. You see, we heard that you saved that Uzumaki brat." The man slurred out. It wasn't a question.

"And? What if I did?" The man twitched in annoyance.

"Well you see, that thing is a menace to this village, so if you saved its life then that means it brainwashed you, which makes you dangerous as well. He stumbled forward a few steps and nearly fell over in his drunken stupor. Gohan snarled angrily at the man.

"What right do you have to say those things about Naruto? I haven't known him for very long but from what I have seen he's not a threat to anybody that hasn't already threatened him." The man snorted.

"And now you're comparing it to a human. That thing isn't worth being compared to a dog, let alone a human being!" Gohan didn't notice Hinata step out of her hiding spot to stand next to and slightly behind him, her eyes lit up with fury.

"Don't you dare say that about Naruto-kun! He's kind and brave and ten times the person you are!" The men all looked shocked to see Hinata, as though they hadn't noticed her with Gohan when he'd been pointed out. Gohan however just stared at her in shock from her outburst. Such an angry outburst would be the last thing he'd expect out of such a shy and timid girl. The leader of their opponents merely chuckled.

"Ah, so it seems the brat has managed to brainwash a Hyuuga as well. Too bad, we were only hoping to kill the outsider." With that one of the men behind him took out and threw a large and jagged looking rock at Hinata. Gohan acted out of instinct and stepped in the path of the projectile, taking a hit in the forehead and receiving a gash for his troubles. Something red tainted his eyesight so he reached up and wiped at it to see that he had blood running down his forehead and into his eye. He stared wide eyed at the blood on his hand. If such a hit had managed to do that much damage to him, then it most certainly would've done much worse to Hinata, maybe even killed her. He narrowed his eyes dangerously at their attackers as he wondered how a drunken man could have such good aim. The leader looked at him with an appraising eye.

"Well now, that blow should've at least knocked you out. I think you're losing your touch Baki." The man behind him, apparently Baki, snorted. (A.N: To avoid confusion, this is not the Baki from Suna.)

"He just got lucky, that's all." There was no hint of drunkenness in either of their voices and Gohan suddenly grew suspicious.

"Who are you really? You don't seem like normal drunken villagers to me." The leader smirked.

"Well, I guess you've got us figured out." In a large puff of smoke, the drunken villagers took on the looks of ninja, and Gohan noticed that their headbands had what appeared to be a musical note on them. Immediately there was a barrage of shuriken headed his way and Gohan almost dodged, but then remembered that Hinata was right behind him so he allowed the shuriken to stick in him, two on his left arm, three on his right arm and about eight sticking in his chest area. He groaned in pain and nearly laughed when a kunai was thrown at him and embedded itself in the ground in front of him. He was about to berate the thrower's accuracy but he saw what appeared to be a burning tag attached to the kunai and instinctively rammed his shoulder roughly into Hinata, knocking her back several feet only seconds before the kunai exploded. Hinata watched with wide eyed horror as Gohan was engulfed in a cloud of smoke and dirt.

"Gohan-kun!" She made a move to rush into the dust cloud to make sure Gohan was okay, but stopped when moments later said cloud was forcefully blown away revealing a smirking Gohan. The only injuries he'd sustained were a few cuts and burns, but other than that was completely unharmed.

"I'm glad you're starting to feel a little closer to me Hinata-chan." He looked over to her and could see that she didn't care that he'd called her Hinata-chan so he smiled at her for a fleeting moment before hardening his features once again and turned his attention back to their attackers. "I guess it's too much to ask that you guys just give up and leave us alone?" The men just looked at each other and burst out laughing at his request.

"Kid, I don't think you understand the situation you're in. You're outnumbered and outclassed so why would we give up?" Gohan slumped his shoulders and sighed. He really didn't want Hinata to have to see him fight but there seemed to be no other option. He didn't turn his head when he apologized to her.

"Sorry Hinata-chan. I was hoping I wouldn't have to get violent in front of you but it looks like these guys won't go down without a fight. I'll make it quick." Their leader was about to make a sarcastic remark, but before any of them could even blink Gohan was running towards them at a frightening speed. He reached the leader first and delivered a quick punch to his gut and without stopping zigzagged between the remaining five. He ducked a punch from the second sound nin and as he whirled into his attack caught the third squarely in the jaw with such force that it sent him spinning into the fourth, effectively incapacitating both. He ended his whirl with a chop to the back of the second ninja's neck, pinching a pressure point and sending him to dream land as well. He now stood facing the last two shinobi and before the look of fear could even begin to cross their faces he'd already knocked them out. They hadn't even seen him move. Gohan walked back over to Hinata and blushed as she stared at him in wide eyed awe.

"G...Gohan-kun, th..that was...you're very strong." He grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head in a way reminiscent of his father.

"Thanks Hinata-chan." There was a sudden noise above them and then the sound of someone clapping filled the silent area. They both looked up towards the source of the commotion and upon seeing what was on the roof they took on mixed feelings, but it was Gohan that summed it up the best.

"Oh great, what now?" There, sitting on the roof of the very building they'd initially hid behind, was yet another ninja.

Wow, what a doozy of a chapter this turned out to be. Only a few more hundred words and it would've ended up just as big as the first two combined! Needless to say I hope that quantity did not cause a loss of quality in this case. There's really only one way for me to find out though, and that's if you review!

P.S: Don't expect too many chapters of such...lengthy proportions. This one just got out of control so to speak.


	8. Chapter 8

The ninja smirked down at Gohan and Hinata from atop his perch on the roof of the building they were standing next to, eliciting a growl of annoyance from the former. There was a puff of smoke and moments later the ninja was standing on gound level a few feet away from Gohan and Hinata. He still had that cocky smirk on his face and it was beginning to get on Gohan's nerves. He just wanted to walk Hinata home and then maybe get in some meditation or some training by himself, but it seemed that he'd have to suffer through another interruption. The man was rather casual in his appearance, having short brown hair, brown eyes and standing at only about five seven in height. Gohan eyed him warily and tensed, waiting for some kind of attack towards himself or Hinata. The strange ninja was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Hello Son Gohan, I see you've gotten rid of some riffraff." Gohan frowned at the use of his name. This guy knew him and yet he'd never met him before that he could remember. The shinobi caught sight of the confused look on Gohan's face and chuckled darkly.

"Where are my manners? I am Yakushi Kabuto." He made a slight bow, but it left his small audience wondering if he was sincere or not. "You are probably wondering how I know you, are you not?" Gohan narrowed his eyes and nodded, waiting for an explanation.

"Well, let's just say that I'm a messenger and my master has done some research on you. You see, my master was originally very upset that you interfered with the abduction of Naruto-kun until he learned of your fight with Uchiha Itachi. He has grown quite...interested in you Son Gohan, and would like to help you on your quest for power." Gohan didn't look very trusting at the moment, so Kabuto waited for him to ask the question that was inevitably going to be asked.

"Why should I trust a guy that first of all wants someone to be kidnapped, and then won't even come and speak with me himself? Especially since his messenger has to pose as a leaf nin to even be able to get at me, and even goes so far as to have me attacked?" Kabuto raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"So you say I'm impersonating a shinobi are you? And even saying that I'm somehow connected with your previous assailants? Those are some pretty strong accusations."

"Yeah sure you wear a leaf headband, but if you were really an ally you would've either given us backup or gone to get help. My guess is that your master is nowhere near this village and that those guys laying on the ground are your subordinates." Kabuto gave Gohan a cold smirk and shrugged.

"Well, it seems you've seen right through this clever little setup. That's impressive for a non-shinobi. You must be very intelligent." There was a puff of smoke and when it cleared there was a ninja of the same height and color of eyes, but with silver colored hair held back in a short ponytail and a pair of wire framed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. Instead of a leaf headband, he now sported one that had the symbol of a musical note inscribed in it, just like the ninjas that had attacked before.

"You are correct in your assumptions Son Gohan. I must assure you though, that my master would rather have been to this meeting himself, but is currently preoccupied with trying to find some help with a rather...difficult ailment he has recently suffered." He was of course, referring to Orochimaru's search for the legendary sannin and medic nin Tsunade for the healing of his arms from the third Hokage's final attack. Gohan didn't need to know this however, and Kabuto wasn't currently in the mood to divulge information that wasn't necessary, most especially information that would make the young man less likely to take up his master's offer. Kabuto wasn't ready for the declaration that Gohan made next, and was thus thrown off guard.

"If that symbol on your headband is anything to go by, I'd say you're from the Sound Village. I've been told that part of the reason for the destruction spread around this village is because of your village so again I ask, why should I trust you?" Kabuto nearly winced when he heard this. Sure, he should've known that Gohan would eventually find that out, but he'd been hoping that time hadn't come yet. This could make things much more difficult.

"I can assure you Gohan-kun, that the grudge my village holds against Konoha does not extend to you." Gohan narrowed his eyes in irritation at the title attached to his name, but did not say anything.

"And how can I trust that you're telling the truth?"

"There's nothing that I can say or do to convince you of that. You'll just have to decide for yourself. I would ask one thing of you though. Please at least allow my master to meet you once he is healed. You will not have to search him out, he will find you. Will you at least do that much?" Gohan looked hesitant, but nodded after a moment.

"Good. There is one more thing though." Gohan didn't like the tone in his voice, and tensed when he spoke.

"And what's that?" Kabuto took on a malicious smirk that unnerved Gohan with its ferocity.

"I'm going to test your abilities and make sure you're worthy of my master's time." Before Gohan could respond Kabuto rushed at him with surprising speed and forced Gohan to jump to the side to avoid a collision. He quickly realized that Kabuto did not stop and continued towards Hinata, who twirled to the side when he nearly stabbed her with a kunai. Gohan cursed inwardly and disappeared and reappeared behind Kabuto, who unexpectedly whirled around and sliced at Gohan's face. Gohan turned his face with the blade, but the kunai still left a nasty cut along his right cheek. Gohan ignored the pain and forcefully grabbed the wrist with the kunai and pushed on a pressure point, forcing Kabuto to drop the kunai and leaving him vulnerable to attack, or at least it seemed that way. Gohan smashed the heel of his palm into Kabuto's face, but where Kabuto had been there was now a cloud of smoke and the unconscious body of one of the other sound nin once again falling to the ground.

'What kind of technique was that? I know I hit him! And how did he get that body over here so fast?' Hinata abruptly reminded Gohan that he was in the middle of a battle.

"Gohan-kun!" Gohan's eyes widened when he saw that Kabuto had taken advantage of his distraction and once again rushed towards him, but this time he was forced to jump back when Hinata threw a kunai into his path from off to the side. Gohan took a running start and leaped into the air, coming back down on Kabuto with a foot extended. Kabuto grabbed his foot and used his momentum to throw him into a spin, releasing him directly into Hinata and sending them both flying back several feet. They both recovered quickly and jumped to opposite sides, effectively flanking Kabuto. He took a moment to look at both of his opponents before he flattened both palms and began gathering chakra into blades around them. Hinata sensed the gathering chakra and activated her byakugan when no immediate attack was made. Before she could warn Gohan about what Kabuto had done, he was already swining at Gohan and barely missing.

Gohan ducked under a swing and dropped to his hands in an attempt to land a kick to Kabuto's gut, but Kabuto jumped back and was right back in Gohan's face the moment he stood back up. Gohan desperately made sure not to let Kabuto's hands come anywhere near him, having sensed a bit of energy surrounding them and having no clue as to what he was planning to do with it. He found out the hard way when his dodge wasn't quite wide enough and his shoulder suddenly felt like it was being torn up from the inside. His eyes widened as he realized what the energy was for and put more of his energy into dodging, hoping to find an opening large enough to let him just take Kabuto out with one hit. Unfortunately for him Kabuto was much better than that and didn't let up his assault for a second and forcing him to constantly be on the offensive.

Hinata began to worry when Gohan winced at the chakra running through his shoulder and decided that it was time to lend some assistance, even if all she could do was distract Kabuto long enough for Gohan to knock him out or at least incapacitate him in some form. She watched and waited until Gohan dodged an extra forceful attack and immediately got a running start, intending on closing a tenketsu in either one of his arms or shoulders to cut his attack down. This plan however counted on Kabuto acting towards her the same way that the majority of people around her did, and that was completely forgetting she was there. She hadn't counted on him waiting for just such an attack and ducking to the side as her fingers came within inches of hitting him. Realizing what was about to happen, Hinata tried to withdraw the chakra she'd already put into the blow but was too late and caught Gohan squarely in the chest, mere centimeters from his heart. Her eyes widened in horror at the realization of what she'd done and she backed away from Gohan when he grunted from the pain.

"G...Gohan-kun!" He waved a hand dismissively.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, I'm fine. You actually missed hitting anything vital with that attack, thankfully."

"If you have time to talk, then you should be preparing for my next attack." Gohan roughly shoved Hinata out of the way when Kabuto came charging at them and ducked down in an attempt to catch his opponent in his unprotected gut. Gohan realized too late that this was not the real Kabuto as his fist caught only thin air and Kabuto disappeared as though he'd never existed. Gohan sensed him coming from behind and whirled around to attack only to end up gripping his head in both hands and falling to his knees as a piercing agony invaded his mind and the world around him began spinning. Hinata was moving before she even realized it and landed a punch directly to an unsuspecting Kabuto's jaw, causing him to lose control of his momentum and trip over Gohan, effectively causing him to kiss the dirt. He scowled as he stood up and glared at Hinata.

"I don't know why you insist on interfering Hinata-chan. My only intention is to fight Gohan and if you continue to get in my way I can't promise that I won't kill you." Hinata swallowed hard but met Kabuto's glare with defiance.

"I...I won't let you hurt G...Gohan-kun! He can't even fight back!" Kabuto looked down at Gohan and saw that he was writhing in pain on the ground.

"Hmmm...it looks like he's having some sort of mental breakdown. Perhaps it's a side effect of that technique Itachi used on him?"

Gohan slowly opened his eyes and briefly wondered if he'd gone blind. 'Where am I?' He cried out as a flash of white hot pain flared through his head and he saw an image of Piccolo killing his uncle Radditz and his dad. The image quickly faded away and was replaced by an unfamiliar memory in which a younger Sasuke asked him if he'd help him practice his shuriken throwing, which he declined saying that he was busy and that he should ask father. Sasuke complained a bit about how he treated him like he was a bother so he called him over and flicked him on the forehead and told him maybe next time. This memory faded even faster than the last one and Gohan saw Piccolo sacrificing himself to save him from Nappa's attack. This memory faded even faster and was replaced with yet another unfamiliar memory. This time he was standing in what appeared to be the living room of someone's house. He looked down and saw two bloodied corpses lying on the ground and a bloody katana that he held in his hand. The door at the far end of the room opened and in stepped a terrified Sasuke who didn't take long to realize what had happened and tried to attack only to be beaten back viciously. Gohan groaned and suddenly felt like losing the ramen he'd eaten not all that long ago.

"Stop it! Why am I seeing these things? I don't want to see any more!" Then, it was as though a dam broke as horrible memories both familiar and alien flooded Gohan's mind. He gripped his head with both hands once again in a vain attempt to make the horrible memories go away, which only seemed to encourage them and seemingly more flew through his head at the speed of light. Tears streamed out of his eyes and he dug his nails into his head, causing blood to trickle down his fingers and drip to the ground. "Please stop! I can't..." Something within Gohan snapped and his power began flowing out of him in uncontrollable torrents and lashing out at anything around him.

Hinata bcame worried when Gohan's head started bleeding and he began frantically moaning and mumbling for something to stop and she was about to try and comfort him when a violent aura of power exploded into being around him, blowing both Hinata and Kabuto back into the building on the opposite side of the alley. Kabuto made to leave but bolts of energy began striking out from Gohan's aura, forcing him and Hinata to dodge to avoid being struck.

Inside Gohan's mind things had only gotten worse. Sure the memories had stopped but now everything had gone black with only a silhouette visible in the darkness. Gohan's voice cracked with raw emotion as he called out to the stranger, hoping that whoever it was could tell him what was going on. The figure stepped forward and Gohan's face lit up in excitement.

"Dad, it's you!" Goku had been smiling warmly until Gohan called out to him. As he caught sight of Gohan his face twisted into a sneer of pure rage.

"You!" Gohan was taken aback by the tone in his voice but said nothing. Goku strode forward and roughly grabbed Gohan by the neck, slamming him into an invisible wall. "You killed me you worthless little vermin! Because of you I'll never be with your mother again or get to see your little brother!" The words stung and Gohan could feel tears beginning to form as Goku began applying pressure to his throat. He couldn't bring himself to respond, and didn't notice that Goku had mentioned his second son, whom he'd never seen or heard of before. "You're no better than Cell! I'm ashamed to call you my son." Gohan started to speak but Goku just backhanded him, leaving a red mark on his cheek. He dropped Gohan to the ground and turned his back on him. "I hate you and I never want to see your face again you monster. You're no better than Cell or Frieza."

"Wait Dad! Please, I'm sorry! I didn't mean for it to end like that!" Gohan reached out and grabbed onto his father's pant leg, causing him to look down at him. He growled and spat in Gohan's face before yanking his leg out of his grip and walking away, fading into the darkness. Gohan could no longer control his emotions and tears came flooding out of his eyes as he began sobbing uncontrollably. He could hear footsteps approaching from the same direction that his father had left in and thought he'd come back to kill him, but the figure that stepped out of the shadows turned out to be Piccolo instead. He looked down at Gohan, disappointment and disgust evident on his face. He only spoke one sentence before leaving, but that one sentence was more than enough.

"I expected great things of you Gohan, and you let me down." Piccolo spun around and walked away, his cape flowing in a nonexistent breeze. Gohan curled up into a ball and cried into himself when he heard two figures land in front of him. He looked up to see two very familiar and unpleasant individuals staring him down. The shorter, lizard-like one chuckled and the taller grasshopper-like one merely smirked smugly. The shorter one reached out with his tail and wrapped it around Gohan's waist, lifting him up to eye level. Gohan couldn't look him in the eyes.

"Please, just leave me alone or kill me." He muttered weakly, not even having the presence of mind to realize that he was facing two of his dead foes. Frieza laughed mockingly before he spoke.

"Come on kid, we're just trying to have some fun here. Besides, I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. You have after all, helped get rid of the one thing that I never could. Ah, watching a son betray his own father is delicious, especially if it's a Saiya-jin. He moved Gohan so that he was now eye level with Cell.

"And I wanted to thank you Gohan. If it weren't for you I'd never have been able to kill the great Goku. Maybe you and I should be partners." Frieza and Cell both laughed at the joke and Frieza smashed Gohan into the ground before both disappeared from sight, leaving a broken and battered Gohan in their wake.

"Stand up Gohan." Gohan looked up to see his mother, Krillin, Yamcha and Tien standing in front of him. He stood up, seeing the smiling face of his mother quickly turn into a scowl. "That's right, stand up and face your judgement." Gohan shook his head and took a step back, wishing they would just go away and leave him to wallow in his sorrow alone. They all took a step forward, making it clear that he wouldn't be getting away. His mother continued speaking. "How could you? How could you take away my husband, your brother's father? He'll never get to know what a great man Goku was because you let him die! I knew you'd end up doing something like this if your father let you fight but nobody wanted to listen to me. Now it's too late." She pointed an accusing finger at him as bitter tears flooded her eyes. "You're nothing but a monster! A wretched little monster that should just die!" Krillin, Yamcha and Tien stepped forward and spoke in unison.

"He was our best friend, and look at what you did to him! It should've been you that Cell killed." They all disappeared into the darkness and Gohan collapsed to the ground and curled into a fetal position, shuddering violently as he wept. It wasn't until what felt like several minutes later that Gohan felt a gentle hand helping him stand. He tried to get a look at the person, but could only make out a shadow, a darker shade of black amongst an endless void. The being's voice was soft, yet at the same time something seemed...off about it.

"Why are you crying Gohan?" He tried to look into the man's eyes, but could not see well enough within the darkness. He lowered his head in shame and grief as he spoke.

"Because I"m alone. Everybody hates me for something I've done and now I have nobody left that cares about me." The figure looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I can take your pain away." Gohan looked doubtful, and the figure sensed this. "I can give you power, power that they will respect. All you have to do is reach out and touch me. Just do this and all of your pain will disappear." Gohan tentatively reached a hand out, but just before he was about to touch it he stopped and pulled away, shaking his head.

"I can't. Your power, it's too destructive. I can feel it radiating off of you." The figure simply nodded and was gone.

Gohan suddenly opened his eyes and found himself face first in the dirt. He sluggishly looked around and saw several small craters and scorch marks on the ground as well as some damage to the buildings on either side of him. He tried to stand up but found that he didn't have the energy to and simply collapsed back to the ground. A small sob escaped his throat as he remembered all that he had seen and flinched when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. There was a girlish squeak from behind him and he turned his head to see Hinata standing over him, watching him with concern in her eyes.

"Ano, g...gomen Gohan-k...kun." He smiled reassuringly at her, mentally berating himself for making her think she'd upset him.

"It's okay Hinata-chan. I just had...a very bad experience and it's got me very weak and shaken up." He looked around. "Where'd that Kabuto guy go?"

"H...he was chased away by Anbu. Since he is a member of Otogakure he is an enemy shinobi." Gohan nodded but winced as the pain from his head wounds hit him full force. He brought a hand up to touch one of the spots that hurt and saw that his fingers now had fresh blood on them. He tried again to stand, but still failed so Hinata offered him a hand, which he took. She helped him up and let him lean on her shoulder. "I'll take you to the Hyuuga compound. Hoperully Otou-san will allow you to rest there." Gohan's eyes narrowed as he remembered both of his previous encounters with Hiashi.

"I appreciate the offer Hinata, but your father doesn't like me. While I was in that meeting he tried to turn the council against me for helping Naruto. Thankfully Kakashi-san and Iruka-sensei were there to speak on my behalf." Hinata sighed sadly at the way her father had treated Gohan.

"G...gomen Gohan-kun. My father..." Gohan didn't allow her to finish her sentence, having his own rather uncharacteristic description to add.

"Is a complete ass that needs to be taught a lesson. I swear if I see him treat you like he did the other day I'm gonna give him a thrashing he'll never forget, Hyuuga head or not." Hinata blushed at the thought of Gohan caring that much about how she was treated.

"A...arigatou, Gohan-kun." At that very moment, a figure blurred into existence in front of them, revealing itself to be an anbu wearing a cat mask. When the anbu spoke it became apparent that it was a female.

"My apologies Gohan-san, Hinata-san. I tried to apprehend Kabuto with the help of a few other anbu, but we were unable to catch him before he left the village. He didn't hurt you too badly did he?" Both Gohan and Hinata shook their heads.

"What about you, Gohan-san? You appear to be wounded and severely weakened." Gohan just shook his head again.

"I'm fine, I'll just need to get some rest and I should be back to normal by tomorrow." The anbu nodded before stepping forward and picking him up. Gohan gave Hinata an embarrassed smile at having to be picked up. "Heh, sorry I couldn't walk you all the way home Hinata-chan. I'll have to try again some other time." Hinata blushed and nodded. Neither had time to say anything else before the anbu disappeared from the area. Hinata couldn't help but be concerned for Gohan's well being after his earlier incident, and stared worriedly at the space he'd occupied only a moment ago.

"Please be okay, Gohan-kun."

By the time Gohan and the anbu had made it to Iruka's house, Gohan felt that he'd regained enough energy to walk on his own and thanked the anbu for her help. She simply nodded her response and disappeared into the shadows. He took a few steps towards the house before his eyes looked as though they were about to pop out of his head from the shock and he fell to one knee, once again grasping his head.

"This isn't real, this is just an illusion." He repeated this to himself over and over again but when he looked up, Iruka's house was on fire. He struggled to his feet as he noticed the cause of the destruction. The figure turned around and Gohan let out a horrified gasp as the face he was met with was a mirror image of his own. The other Gohan grinned at him, revealing teeth stained crimson with the blood of innocents. Gohan shuddered and took a step back, but turned around when he felt a wave of heat hit his back.

Gohan shuddered and once again fell to his knees as he retched and gave up the contents of his stomach. The sight before him was so horrible he couldn't stand to look at it and had to force himself to close his eyes. He counted to ten and slowly opened them, hoping the image would be gone. What he saw before him was one of the most gruesome massacres he'd ever seen, even surpassing what he'd witnessed of Frieza's handiwork on the planet Namek. The entire village was consumed with fire, with black smoke billowing up into the sky and obscuring an already cloudy sky. Even that wasn't the worst of it though. It was the bodies that sickened Gohan the most. They were everywhere and in many different forms of death. Some were laying face down in the dirt, their throats torn open, most likely by the other Gohan's blood stained teeth. Others were in different stages of dismemberment, missing an arm here, a leg there and even a couple that no longer had anything attached save for their heads, leaving their faces twisted open in eternal grimaces of agony. He felt hot breath on his neck when a voice whispered into his ear.

"This is your destiny Gohan. Learn it, love it, embrace it. You have been born with nearly limitless potential, and it is high time that you began tapping into that potential." Gohan flinched away from the voice and spun into a kick, hoping to catch the creature that wasn't him off guard. The creature merely smirked and ducked under the kick, allowing it to pass over its head. Gohan growled and jumped back, attempting to power up as he did so. For a split second Gohan felt that something was off and his aura flickered into being around him for several seconds and then suddenly snapped out of existence, leaving Gohan to drop to his hands and knees and gasping for breath.

"What's...wrong...with me?" The fake Gohan lifted used his foot to lift Gohan's chin up so that they were looking each other in the eyes.

"What's wrong you ask? What's wrong with you is the fact that you let your so called morals dictate the way you act. What's wrong is you constantly keeping me locked away in your mind." He smirked slightly before continuing. "However, thanks to that Itachi guy your mind is coming unraveled at the seams and your defenses are weakening. It won't be too long before you realize you need me and come crawling to me for help, at which time I'll gladly help and you'll become a being the likes of which this universe has never seen before." Gohan's eyes widened as he realized who, or rather, what he was talking to.

"You're...my saiya-jin half aren't you?" He received a mocking thumbs up as his answer.

"That's right. I'm the half that only ever gets brief moments of influence over you. I'm the half that gives you your power. It is only a matter of time before you become me, and then this world shall bow at our feet! Just look at this beauty, this work of art! Once you've accepted me you'll be able to spread this wonderful art to every corner of the universe!" Gohan paled considerably at the thought of causing so much death.

"You're wrong! I'll never become you! I'll never accept you!" Saiya-jin Gohan licked his lips in anticipation and grinned a toothy grin that accentuated his canines, giving him the look of a vicious predator.

"That's what you're saying now Gohan, but like I said before, this is your destiny. Now, I've become bored of this meaningless conversation so it's time for you to sleep." Gohan was about to protest but before he even realized what was going on he'd fallen to the ground and entered a blissful slumber. Saiya-jin Gohan looked down at him for a moment before smirking down at him. "Sleep well Gohan, for my time is nearly at hand."

Well, that's it for chapter 8. I must give my thanks to Hybrid thoughts (I'm assuming that was what you intended to put as your name, just tell me if I'm wrong.) as your review inspired a few ideas in this chapter.

**A.N: I have noticed that there are a few of you reading this fic that don't agree with the way some of my fights have been turning out, so I guess a bit of an explanation is in order. I suppose the first thing I should say is that unlike so many people out there, I do not think of anybody in DBZ as being bullet proof or impervious to damage from anything or anyone weaker than they are. This fact is proven when Krillin threw a rock at a sleeping Goku thinking that exact thing, but said rock did in fact manage to hurt Goku because it caught him off guard. I believe that if they were completely impervious to these things, then rather than catch them or dodge them they'd simply ignore them and continue with whatever task they were already involved in. In the case of this fic, not only is Gohan trying to hide his full power, but he is also unsure of himself and also completely unprepared for the types of techniques that shinobi use, which leads me to ki and chakra.**

**One thing I keep seeing is people saying that the Naruto characters couldn't destroy a mountain, let alone a planet such as in DBZ, but how do you know this? The Ki in DBZ and the chakra in Naruto are used in such different methods that to compare them in such a manner is totally useless. In DBZ, ki is used to toss about massively destructive blasts of pure energy that have a tendency to create huge blast areas in the hopes of catching the opponent in the resulting explosion if a direct hit cannot be achieved. In Naruto however, Shinobi cannot afford to do such things as stealth is one of their most important assets in combat. If they were to start throwing about flashy and destructive blasts of energy it would draw too much attention and potentially endager the mission as well as the shinobi themselves, thus they would try to limit the area of effect a technique has. **


	9. Chapter 9

Gohan awoke in a cold sweat and nearly panicked when he didn't immediately recognize his surroundings but quickly calmed down when he realized he was in his room in Iruka's house. He took a moment to calm his labored breathing and took a look around to help regain his bearings. He shuddered as he remembered what had happened to him earlier.

'Was it...all a dream?' He immediately dismissed the thought. It had been far to real to be a dream. Gohan got out of bed and made his way over to the dresser and began to rummage through it until he found the outfit he was looking for. He pulled out a blue spandex jumpsuit and white boots, gloves and armor like what Vegeta wore. After being in so many fights already, Gohan had decided it would be best to wear something a little more protective than the gi that Piccolo had given him. After putting the armor on and going through a few stretching exercises he reminded himself to thank Bulma for making it for him. Gohan folded up his gi and set it on the bed so that he'd remember to wash it later when there was a noise at the door and Iruka walked in with a tray of food. He smiled when he saw Gohan.

"I'm glad to see you're up Gohan. How are you feeling?" Gohan tensed up a bit, remembering the words of his Saiya-jin half but relaxed when he didn't feel the urge to kill anything.

"I"m...alright I guess. I'm a little bit shaken up by what happened but other than that I think I'll be okay." Iruka walked over to the bed and sat the tray down before sitting down on the bed himself. He motioned for Gohan to sit next to him. Gohan hesitantly sat down next to him, but kept his guard up just in case his mental barriers should start crumbling even further.

"Would you mind telling me what happened after you were dropped off here? Did your attacker do something to you?" Gohan shook his head.

"No, I don't think it had anything to do with what happened in the village. I think it might have had something to do with that attack Itachi used on me." Iruka's eyes widened and he quickly became concerned.

"Would you mind coming with me then? I know somebody that could scan your mind for any kind of traps that may have been left there." Gohan sighed, still not liking the idea of someone going through his mind, but was beginning to realize that he didn't have much choice.

"Alright. Sakura tried to get me to do this before, but I don't really like the idea of someone messing around in my mind any more than what's already been done, but after what happened I think it's probably better if I go through with it."

"Good, but I would like to ask you what kind of outfit that is you're wearing. I've never seen anything like it before." Gohan chuckled lightly. The armor wasn't really bad looking, but in just about any situation it drew attention to the person wearing it just because of how different it looked from anything else found on Earth.

"This is a special kind of battle armor that a family friend made for me. I've already been in five different fights since leaving home and I'd rather be a bit better prepared just in case." Iruka nodded his approval.

"Good thinking. You'll make a good shinobi yet." He smiled warmly at Gohan who forced a smile in return, beginning to wonder if that would be such a good thing.

Iruka locked up his house and turned to Gohan, putting a hand on his shoulder and smiling reassuringly.

"Don't worry Gohan, it won't be as bad as you think. You've seen this guy before, you know. His name is Yamanaka Inoichi. He's one of the council members that voted to let you into the village as a shinobi."

"How is he supposed to help me?" Iruka pulled his hand away and led the way towards where the Yamanakas resided.

"Well, the Yamanakas specialize in jutsus that allow them to work with people's minds." Iruka led the way through town, where Gohan received more than a few stares for his choice in clothing, though it had more to do with the spandex than anything else. It left people to wonder if Maito Gai had corrupted yet another young person into wearing the obscene stuff, until they realized that the spandex Gohan wore wasn't nearly as much of an eyesore. It didn't take them long to reach the Yamanaka household and in less than fifteen minutes from when they'd started walking Iruka was knocking on the door. A moment later a young girl with a blond ponytail and blue eyes answered the door with a surprised look on her face.

"Iruka-sensei? What are you doing here?" Iruka smiled at his onetime student.

"Hello, Ino-chan." He pointed at Gohan. "Gohan and I need to speak with Inoichi-san if he isn't too busy." When Ino noticed Gohan, she barely managed to keep herself from blushing. 'He's almost as cute as Sasuke-kun.' She shook her head to clear her thoughts and cleared her throat.

"Ummm...yeah, I'll go get him." She disappeared and less than a minute later they were greeted with the man Gohan recognized as the first one to vote for him to be allowed into the village.

"Hello Iruka-san, Gohan-san. What can I do for you guys?" Iruka looked around a couple of times before answering.

"I think this is best discussed in private, Inoichi-san." Inoichi raised an eyebrow but ushered them both in before leading them to his bedroom in the back of the house. He let them in and locked the door behind them.

"Alright, is something the matter?" Iruka cast a worried glance at Gohan before answering.

"Well, I'd like for you to take a look at Gohan's mind if you could. He recently fell unconscious in my yard for no apparent reason and suspects that it may be some side effect of Itachi's attack on him.

"I see, so you want me to make sure that there isn't any lasting damage on his psyche and that his mind hasn't been tampered with?" Iruka nodded.

"We think it's best, that way it can be dealt with now instead of it possibly becoming a problem later on."

"Very well. The first thing I'm going to do is reverse hypnosis. How long ago was it that you collapsed Gohan?" Gohan thought about it for a moment but realized that he'd lost all track of time in that hellish zone that his mind had created. He looked to Iruka for an answer.

"Hmmm...I believe that your anbu guard said she'd dropped you off two hours ago when I came home, and you were out for about another hour after that so I'd say around three hours ago." Inoichi nodded.

"Very well." He went through several hand seals and green waves of chakra began emanating from his hands and entering into Gohan's mind, effectively putting him to sleep. "Jigyaku no jutsu (time reversal technique). Gohan's body went limp and Iruka had to shift him to a position that wouldn't cause him to fall off the bed. "Alright Gohan, I want you to climb backwards through your memories. You're going back to an hour ago, two hours, three hours. You're going back to the time when you were dropped off at Iruka's house by an anbu guard. What's happening?" Gohan's eyes remained closed and his body limp as he spoke in a low monotone voice that was barely audible.

"Hinata and I had just finished fighting when she showed up. I couldn't stand on my own so she picked me up and took me to Iruka's house. I had enough energy to move around on my own at that time so she put me down and left. I began walking towards Iruka's house but it was on fire. There was someone standing in front of the house like he'd attacked it. He turned around and it was me that had done it. I felt heat on my back and turned around to see that the entire village was on fire, with mangled bodies on the ground. The other me told me it was my destiny to destroy this village. We argued and I tried to fight him but I couldn't power up. He told me that he was going to come out and influence me so that I can no longer lock him up in my mind." Inoichi pondered this for a moment and decided to see if that's all there was too it.

"Have you had any other mental lapses?" Gohan slowly nodded, and automatically went back through his memories to the fight against Kabuto.

"What is happening before you start having your mental lapses?"

"Hinata and I were fighting Kabuto in an alleyway. Kabuto had ducked under Hinata's attack and she hit me instead. He came at us with a counterattack and I pushed Hinata out of the way when I got a headache." Inoichi nodded and seemed to be thinking deeply.

"And what happened after that?"

"I woke up in darkness. I had another headache and I started seeing painful images. I saw Piccolo-sensei killing my Dad and Uncle Radditz. Then I saw young Sasuke ask me to help him practice shuriken throwing. I told him I was busy and that I might do it next time. Then I saw Piccolo-sensei getting killed by Nappa to stop him from killing me. Next I found myself standing in a house with a bloody katana over my Father and Mother's dead bodies. Sasuke came into the room and tried to stop me but I beat him up and used Tsukiyomi on him. Then the memories came faster and faster until I couldn't keep track of them anymore." After a few moments of silence Inoichi urged Gohan to continue.

"Is there more to it Gohan? Please continue."

"The memories stopped, but then people came to me. Everybody said it's my fault, that I killed my father. Cell and Frieza mocked me and everybody else that I know said that I'm a monster and I should die."

"Is that all Gohan?" Gohan slowly nodded his head so Inoichi released the jutsu, allowing Gohan to return to consciousness. He looked to Inoichi expectantly, waiting to hear what he thought so far. Inoichi sighed and rubbed his temples before relaying the news.

"What I have heard from you so far is a bit worrisome. It seems that somehow some of Uchiha Itachi's memories have been planted in your mind. Whether that is intentional or not I couldn't even begin to guess, but either way it could cause you some problems later on. Because of this, I think a more complicated technique is in order." Gohan looked a bit hesitant, he had a feeling he wasn't going to like what he was going to hear next. He swallowed hard and asked the question he really didn't want an answer to.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to enter your mind. I should be able to tell what condition your mind is in if I take a look around." Gohan began to look nervous. "Don't worry, I can't read your mind or anything like that. I might get a glimpse of some of your memories, and I won't tell anybody about your memories unless I think that there's important information that the village needs to be aware of." Gohan again looked hesitant, but relented.

"Alright, but how will you be able to tell what condition my mind is in without reading my thoughts?" Inoichi chuckled lightly.

"Because everybody has a mindscape, which is where I'll be going. All I have to do is take a look at the condition of your mindscape and I should be able to determine your mental condition from there. Are you ready?" Gohan steeled himself and nodded, praying to Dende that Inoichi didn't find out too much about him or at the very least that he wouldn't find it to be important enough to tell to the village council. Gohan watched as Inoichi went through a long chain of about twenty hand seals before activating the technique.

"Ninpou: Tabi no Naiteki Seishin! (Ninja arts: Journey to the Inner Mind)" Inoichi's eyes closed and his body went slack as his spirit left his body and traveled directly into Gohan's mind. Gohan felt a pressure in his head which caused him to wince and instinctively bring a hand up to grasp at the offending area. As quickly as it had come, the pressure abated and Gohan allowed himself to relax, forcing the thoughts of what Inoichi might find out of his mind. 'I'd better meditate, maybe I can go into my mindscape and help Inoichi-san." He folded his legs under himself and sat in the lotus position, clearing his mind of all thoughts and bringing his breathing under control. Slowly but surely Gohan entered his mindscape, seeking out Inoichi in order to help him as much as possible.

Inoichi awoke in a hallway lined on both sides by nondescript white doors that had nothing more than a handle. He turned to the door on his right and opened it, revealing nothing but an empty white room. He closed the door and went to the door on the other side, opening it to reveal another white room, except this time it had an occupant whose back was currently turned to Inoichi so that he couldn't make out their identity. He stepped into the room and walked up to the small form that sat on the floor and put his hand on their shoulder. The person turned around to reveal a much younger version of Gohan.

"I don't know who you are but I can't play now. Mom'll get mad at me if I interrupt my studying." Inoichi looked at the book the boy was holding curiously.

"And what is it that you're studying?" The boy cocked his head at him as though studying him for a moment before showing him the book. The cover was bare, except for the title which was in big black letters. It read "All about table manners: Volume I."

"Mom says I eat too much like my Dad and that I need to learn how to eat more like a human being than some savage alien." Inoichi laughed at this, not realizing that the words had been spoken in complete sincerity rather than sarcasm.

"Alright, I'll leave you to your studying then." He turned and walked back out the door, shutting it behind him. He began walking towards the next pair of doors when the entire hallway flickered back and forth between what it was now and some image that Inoichi couldn't quite catch. He hesitated for a moment, but continued on until he came to the next pair of doors and opened the one on his left. The sight before him was entirely different from the last rooms he'd just been to. This door led not to a room, but to what appeared to be a mountainous region with a large crater in the middle of nowhere. Inoichi stepped into the room and saw a tall man with a long mane of spiky black hair reaching down to his waist. The man wore an armor of similar design to what Gohan now wore, save for it was a brownish color and had shoulder pads and leg pads. In addition, this man did not wear a full body spandex outfit or gloves, leaving his arms, legs and hands bare. The man carried a small frightened child down into the crater. Inoichi walked over to the edge to see the man put the child into a spherical pod of some sort and close what appeared to be a personnel hatch, locking the child inside. The man smirked evilly as he walked away from the pod.

"Ah, that's much better. Now all I have to do is wait for Kakarrot to kill those humans for me and then we can get off this pathetic rock once Vegeta and Nappa get here." A short moment later the man touched the strange device he wore around his eye and gasped in surprise before spinning around to stare in shock at the pod he'd trapped the child in. "Power level seven hundred and ten?! There's no way that's accurate! For a child, even a Saiya-jin child to have that much power..." He was interrupted by two fighters landing in the area behind him. One of the fighters was of the same height as the long haired man and wore an orange gi and pants. The other fighter was a bit taller and wore the same purple gi and cape that Gohan wore, except that he wore a turban as well. Inoichi watched as the two new arrivals argued with the long haired man for a while before they began fighting, that is, if you really could call it a fight. Even though they outnumbered the long haired man, the two other fighters were severely outclassed by the fierce warrior. Throughout the ordeal, Inoichi learned that the kidnapped child was Gohan. Judging by how small he'd been, Inoichi guessed that Gohan couldn't be any older than about 4 years old and yet, the one now known as Radditz had seemed to be impressed with his power. And what is a Saiya-jin? Inoichi had decided he'd seen enough and moved to leave until he heard an explosion behind him that caught his attention. He turned around to look down in the crater to see Gohan standing in the spot where the pod had used to be. The boy had a feral scowl on his face and was standing in some sort of fighting stance before he jumped clear out of the crater and took off flying for a gloating Radditz who was currently standing with one foot on Gohan's father's ribcage. He smashed head first into Radditz's chest, cracking his armor and knocking him flat on his back, leaving him to clutch his chest in agony. Inoichi couldn't believe his eyes. He'd been watching Radditz slaughter the other two, now known as Goku and Piccolo, but yet this four year old child had just nearly killed him, and there was no way he should've been able to jump anywhere near that high without some sort of training!" Gohan seemed to have calmed down though, so Inoichi turned back around and left the room, wondering how a four year old could do the things he'd just seen.

He walked across the hall to the other door, eagerly awaiting what he'd find on the other side but just as he touched the door handle everything around him shifted. He jumped back and took a frantic look around to see that everything around him now had a look of severe disrepair, as though this were an ancient building that had been abandoned hundreds of years ago and left to rot. He cautiously stepped forward and put his hand on the doorknob only to have the door crumble away to dust at his touch. He stared at it in shock for a moment but suddenly everything shifted back to normal, the door standing there in front of him as though nothing had happened. Inoichi found the shifts to be troubling, as they could be a sign of a highly unbalanced mind.

"Hey Inoichi-san." He turned around to see Gohan standing behind him.

"Gohan? Why are you here?" Gohan just shrugged.

"Well, I figured I'd try to help you out if you don't mind."

"As much as I appreciate it considering how large this place is, it would be best for me to do this alone. Having you here might hamper my progress." They both tensed when malicious laughter echoed throughout the hallway and everything returned to its ancient and rotten state, only this time the ceiling had simply vanished, revealing a blood red sky. A large brown figure could be seen stomping around outside the hall, randomly smashing the occasional dead tree in random bouts of violence. Gohan stared in horror at the beast when it turned and glared in their direction, narrowing its ferocious looking red eyes at them.

"What is that thing? It looks like a giant ape."

"Oh, I'd be more worried about me if I were you. That beast has a very short attention span." The voice came from their left, and they turned their heads to see an exact replica of Gohan standing before them, wearing the same armor that Gohan currently wore. Gohan's Saiya-jin half grinned at them. "How do you like the place? I've been doing a little bit of redecorating, with his help of course." He gestured to the giant brown beast who had lost interest in them and had gone back to destroying defenseless trees. Inoichi stepped in front of Gohan, his face taking on a completely serious look.

"And just who are you and what are you doing in this boy's mind?"

"Do you think this is some sort of disguise? I am the boy's better half. I am the half that makes him powerful." Inoichi's eyes widened.

"Are you a split personality?" Saiya-jin Gohan didn't even bother hiding his laughter. He wiped mirthful tears from his eyes and calmed himself down before answering.

"No, I am his Saiya-jin half." He smirked at Inoichi's lost expression. "Don't even bother trying to understand it, as I'm sure Gohan here won't be very forthcoming at the moment, and I'd rather watch you squirm than help you." Inoichi narrowed his eyes. He was learning things about Gohan, but it was all leading to more questions than answers.

"Why are you tormenting Gohan like this?" Gohan's Saiya-jin half took on a deadly serious look.

"Because he never lets me out. That damnable mother of his has him convinced that I'm evil and should never be allowed to see the light of day. I am just as much a part of Gohan as the rest of him, and should be let out as well. However, since he has allowed his harpy of a mother to brainwash him, I'll just have to force my way out and have my fun all at once. Unfortunately for you and the rest of this pathetic planet, that means that I'll be taking over." Inoichi took on a thoughtful look for a moment until an idea struck him.

"What if I can convince Gohan to let you out once in a while? Will you leave him alone and not act threatening towards anyone?" The Gohan look-alike shrugged.

"Well, if he were to let me out willingly then I really wouldn't have so much pent up energy, so I'd say yeah." Inoichi looked to Gohan.

"What do you have to say to all of this Gohan? Do you accept?" A vein was visibly twitching beneath Gohan's forehead as he fought to contain his anger.

"Why should I trust you?! You're the one that influenced me to torture Cell instead of killing him! It's your fault that father is dead!" His lookalike raised an eyebrow at the outburst.

"Are you so sure of that? Sure I wanted to play with him a little bit before I killed him but you're the one that wanted revenge. You're the one that even after letting me out for once still wouldn't allow me complete control. You're such a fool, always fighting against your own instincts just so you can try to please everybody around you." He took on a smug, haughty look. "You think you're strong now? I could've made you so much more if you'd just embraced me! There's so much wasted potential in this body it's embarrassing! You could be just as strong as Broly was, stronger even." Gohan's eyes widened for a second, but he quickly repressed it, his face turning stoic.

"At what cost? Broly had all that power, yet look at what it did to him. He was so unstable that if it weren't for his father controlling him, he would've destroyed himself." Gohan's Saiya-jin half rolled his eyes as though Gohan had just said the dumbest thing imaginable.

"Duh! That's because he was born with too much power and it corrupted his mind! Don't you remember? He was born with a power level of 180,000! Even father didn't get that high of a power until well after he was an adult. You however, have a much stronger mind than father did. You could handle that kind of power easily. You didn't even have any trouble when you unlocked "it". If you'll remember, father said that when he did the same thing he was having a constant battle just to keep from going insane with power. Trust me, I may be Saiya-jin but I still know you just as well as you know yourself. If I promise not to hurt anybody who hasn't earned it, will you trust me and allow me to have my due influence in your life?" Gohan hesitated, then started to open his mouth to say something, but whirled around so that his back was to his Saiya-jin half and Inoichi.

"I...I'll think about it. You'll know when I've made my decision. Can we at least consider this a truce?" His other self smirked.

"For now, yes. I'll be expecting your answer soon though, and if not, then I'll go right back to tormenting you." Gohan turned back around, a smile on his face as he extended his right arm.

"Let's shake on it." His Saiya-jin half looked puzzled for a moment, but grudgingly accepted the gesture, extending his own right arm and grumbling about humans and their odd gestures. After they had shaken, Gohan turned his attention to Inoichi.

"Well Inoichi-san, I think we've done about all we can here." Inoichi almost nodded, but then remembered what Gohan had told him about the foreign memories.

"I have one more question first. Are you the cause of Gohan having to view all of those foreign memories from Uchiha Itachi?" The other Gohan nodded in response.

"When he made his attack on our mind, I reached into his mind and pulled out some of his memories with the intent of using them to confuse and weaken Gohan's mental defenses. To be honest, I pulled enough memories that if I really wanted to, I could make you think you were Uchiha Itachi, thus making it easier for me to take control." Both Gohan and Inoichi seemed satisfied and without another word disappeared from Gohan's mindscape. Gohan's Saiya-jin half smirked after they had gone.

"You'd better make good on your promise Gohan, or things are going to become very difficult for you indeed."

Well, that's it for chapter 9. I need to know your opinions on this chapter, as it really doesn't seem all that good to me, so please review and let me know what you think. Anyways, see you next chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

Gohan and Inoichi opened their eyes simultaneously, and Inoichi caught Gohan's eyes with a serious expression.

"Please do not take this decision lightly Gohan. From what I have witnessed this other personality of yours has a lot of influence in your mind and if you are unprepared for the consequences of your choice it could be disastrous." Gohan looked thoughtful for a moment, but decided he should ask for advice before trying to decide for himself.

"What do you think I should do?" Inoichi pondered this for a moment, thinking through his answer carefully.

"Well, I can't tell you what to do, but I would advise giving him what he wants. He did not seem as though he would attempt to do any damage were you to allow him his freedom. However, if you don't want to I'm sure Jiraiya-sama can use his expertise with seals to help you out. I must warn you though, that you shouldn't base your decision off of what I say, as I have no experience with a case like yours. The best advice that I can give you is to follow your instincts. Only you can truly know what is best for you." Gohan smiled and nodded.

"Thank you Inoichi-san." Inoichi smiled warmly at him.

"Any time Gohan-kun. Even though others on the council disagree with me on this, I think you're a hero for saving Naruto." His expression saddened as he thought of the young blond genin. "It's sad really, the way the village treats the boy. He's never really done anything worse than a few pranks. I would've allowed my daughter, Ino to associate with him when they were younger, but for her own safety I had to tell her to stay away from him for fear the villagers would try to harm her." Gohan shook his head sadly.

"Iruka-sensei told me about how the villagers treat him, but they did that to people that tried to be friends with him too?"

"I can't say much, but I will tell you that fear can make human beings very paranoid." Gohan desperately wanted to know why anybody would fear Naruto, but the look on Inoichi and Iruka's faces told him that he wouldn't be getting any more answers on that topic so he relented...for now. Iruka and Gohan said their goodbyes to Inoichi and returned to Iruka's house, where Iruka introduced Gohan to shuriken and kunai throwing. While they weren't techniques that Gohan was particularly interested in, he figured that he ought to learn them if only to help improve his aim. It was to this end that he spent the next two hours throwing shuriken and kunai, after which Iruka spent another hour teaching him hand signs and the basics of chakra molding, which Gohan took to quite well due to his already extensive knowledge of ki manipulation.

It was now about six in the afternoon and Gohan was relaxing on his bed and thinking of how to approach his personality issues while Iruka made food for the both of them. While to most it would seem to be an easy enough decision to just let their mind be whole, Gohan's experiences with Saiya-jins so far and his own knowledge of what happened when he was enraged enough made it difficult for him to trust his Saiya-jin half. After a few moments of weighing the pros and cons of each decision against each other, he sighed and put himself into a meditative state, putting himself deep into his own mind.

He woke in the same hallway that he and Inoichi had been in before, only this time his Saiya-jin half was there waiting for him with a smirk on his face.

"So, you've finally come to a decision eh?" Gohan nodded grimly. While this was logically the best choice, he still didn't have to like it.

"I've decided to let you have your input. I'm warning you though, if you take it too far things are going right back to the way they were and I'll find a way to seal you off for good. His other half's smirk widened into a very unSaiya-jin smile.

"Hey, you don't have to worry about that. This was actually what I was hoping for you to do. While universal domination and widespread death and destruction sound fun, I'd rather our mind was one whole piece rather than divided as it has been." His expression turned dark. "You know I was lying before when I said that I had redecorated this place right?" Gohan quirked an eyebrow at him so he sighed.

"This is all an illusion." He gestured all around him at the relatively clean hallway and it reverted back to its ruined state. "This is the true state of your mind. This is the result of all of those years of me having to force my influence on you and your own self loathing for what you are. Had things continued as they were, our mind would have become severely unstable and there's no telling what would have happened then. Now that you're making the first steps towards fixing the problem, this should eventually repair itself into what you saw before." At Gohan's questioning look he rolled his eyes.

"You're wondering why I put that illusion up in the first place aren't you?" Gohan nodded lightly, waiting for an answer. "It's simple really. We don't need that blond guy interfering with our affairs. If he were to think of that as the true state of your mind he would have panicked and possibly ruined all of our plans." Gohan snorted.

"Our plans? Since when do you want the same things I do?" Saiya-jin Gohan just looked at him as though he'd said the dumbest thing imaginable.

"Since always. You and I just have different ways of accomplishing our goals. You've just let mother influence your attitude towards me too much. Do you honestly think that all Saiya-jins that ever existed have been ruthless killers? If that were the case they would've killed themselves off long before Frieza entered the picture. Come on now, we're smarter than that." Gohan had the decency to blush in embarrassment. He'd never given it any thought that the few Saiya-jins he'd met were just that, a minority, though to his credit all of the information he'd received from said Saiya-jins hadn't helped his opinion either.

"Well, I'd better get back out there. I'm gonna practice molding chakra some more after I eat." Without waiting for a response Gohan disappeared from his mindscape and reawakened in the real world to the scent of food and the sound of Iruka calling him to eat. His stomach grumbled a bit and he rushed downstairs to finish his human sized portions in record time and head back to training ground seven after informing Iruka of his plans. Iruka chuckled as the blue and white blur that was Gohan rushed out the door.

'He's just as determined to get stronger as Naruto is. Once those two can really get to know each other I bet they'll hit it off great.' He smiled at the thought of Naruto's ever growing list of friends as he cleared the table off and began washing the dishes.

It wasn't until much later that night that Gohan returned from his training. Instead of just practicing with chakra as he'd originally intended, he'd also ended up getting a few hours of shuriken and kunai practice in as well. Due to having been tossing around energy blasts for so many years, he was catching on to throwing kunai and shuriken rather easily, though he had to get used to compensating for the weight difference since energy felt nearly weightless. He figured that he'd have it down after a month or so. Gohan locked the door behind him as he made his way into Iruka's house and towards his room, ready for some sleep so he could train some more the next day. Once he was in his room he quickly stripped down to his boxers and crawled into bed, falling into a pleasant sleep within minutes.

The next day Gohan awoke with a grin and after a quick shower he headed to the kitchen where he could smell Iruka making breakfast. Iruka smiled at him as he took his seat at the table.

"Good morning Gohan. How did your training go last night?" Gohan gave him his brightest grin, happy to be living with someone that was encouraging him to train.

"It went great Iruka-sensei! I think I'll have kunai and shuriken throwing down in a month or so and I've already pretty much got my chakra control to an acceptable level." While having used the kaio-ken was similar to drawing out chakra, it didn't require near the amount of precision to use, and thus Gohan was having a small amount of trouble getting his chakra under control, though he expected to be able to start learning basic tehniques within a week or so.

"That's good to hear. Now, I've decided that it would probably be best to set up a daily schedule for your studying and training so that you'll know what to expect. Does that sound okay to you?" Gohan nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, and that way I can make sure to give myself enough free time during the day to practice what I learn. I was wondering though, could you supervise my shuriken and kunai throwing? I bet I could learn it faster if I had someone who was there giving me tips."

"I think I could do that. Also, I think I'll just give you all of the materials you need to study for history and all of that since you seem to be able to study much faster than any of the students I've had so far. But first, let's eat!" Gohan couldn't help but widen his grin as he and Iruka shared a simultaneous "Itadakimasu!" and dug in. After they finished, Iruka left the room for several minutes and came back with an armload of textbooks which he promptly dropped on the table. The books ranged in topics from mathematics to older versions of the bingo books. Gohan looked at the large pile of books seemingly unimpressed.

"That's it? There doesn't seem to be a lot to study." Iruka just stared at Gohan in shock.

"You're kidding right? That's nearly everything that you'll have to learn aside from the basic ninjutsu techniques you'll need to pass." Gohan just shrugged nonchalantly.

"Heh, don't worry about it, I've got studying down to an art!" With that said he picked the math book out of the pile and began studying it, wanting to get his best subjects out of the way before moving on to the ones he wasn't as familiar with, such as the bingo books and shinobi rules.

Gohan studied in this fashion for three hours, surprising Iruka when he completely finished the math, saying that he'd studied math far more advanced under his mother's tutelage. He also managed to get through a fair amount of the shinobi rules and also some basic battlefield tactics. He looked outside through a window over the sink and saw that it was now daylight out, a stark contrast to the pitch black it had been when he'd first woken up. He stood up and stretched his limbs and after moving the books up to his room Iruka took him to the academy dojo to practice his shuriken and kunai throwing and molding chakra. Gohan trained in this fashion for another two hours, leaving him just a little bit winded from the chakra use as he tried to get a feel for how to draw it out effectively.

It was in this manner that Gohan spent the next month. He dedicated his early morning hours from 6 to 9 to studying his textbooks and taking the occasional test to make sure he understood what he was learning and the rest of his morning until 11 was spent throwing shuriken and kunai and mastering chakra molding and the basic academy jutsu. After that he often spent much of his day with Hinata, during which time they became well acquainted and told each other about their families and friends and even had the occasional spar. Towards the end of that month rumors began circulating that Jiraiya and Naruto would be returning soon with the new Hokage. This frustrated Gohan as he'd wanted to catch up with them and learn some techniques from Jiraiya, but he resigned to trying to convince him to train him once they returned to Konoha, which shouldn't be too long as they were supposedly only a couple weeks away. Presently, Gohan sighed contentedly at the breakfast he'd just devoured and stood up to head to his room and get his books when Iruka motioned for him to sit down. After disappearing for several minutes without explanation Iruka came back to the kitchen with a smile on his face. Gohan raised an eyebrow as he took note that Iruka was hiding something behind his back but the look in the mans eyes kept him from asking any questions.

"Alright Gohan, I'm giving you a pop quiz today on the jutsu I've been teaching you. If you can pass it I'll give you something good. Let's do this outside though, I don't want my house filling up with smoke." Gohan merely nodded and stood up to lead the way out into Iruka's front yard.

"Good, let's start by having you create two bunshin." With a nod and a quick hand seal a puff of smoke appeared and when it cleared there were three identical Gohans standing in a line. Iruka nodded his approval and Gohan released the bunshins. "Next I want you to perform a henge of someone you've seen in the village." Gohan had to think for a moment to decide on who he wanted to copy. He snapped his fingers and transformed into an exact replica of Hatake Kakashi. Iruka looked Gohan up and down and circled around him, observing from all angles before returning to his original position in front of him.

"Very good Gohan." He looked down to the ground and noticed a small pebble on the ground which he stopped down to pick up. "Alright, next up is kawarimi." He threw the pebble at Gohan only to be surprised when the pebble he'd just thrown struck him in the forehead. It took him a second to realize that Gohan had used him as the replacement. He blinked a few times before regaining himself. "That was...different. It's not very common to use another person, but you still pulled it off effectively so you pass. Now, close your eyes for a minute." Gohan raised an eyebrow in curiosity but quickly obeyed. He nearly opened his eyes when he felt a pressure around his head but decided to play along. He opened his eyes to see a proudly beaming Iruka who held up a small mirror for him to see his reflection. Gohan gasped when he saw the leaf hitai-ate tied to his forehead.

"Iruka-sensei?"

"Congratulations Gohan, you're now officially a genin of Konoha." Gohan grinned excitedly and would've been jumping for joy if his mother hadn't ingrained proper behavior into him from a young age.

"Thank you Iruka-sensei!" Iruka patted the boy on the head and grinned down at him.

"Don't thank me Gohan, you earned it. I must say, if you'd been in an academy class you would've been one of my top students if the amount of devotion you gave to your studies this past month is any indication. You should be proud of yourself, only one person has ever graduated the academy in such a short amount of time." Gohan cocked his head to the side.

"Who's that?" Iruka's gaze darkened a bit at the thought of the man the name represented.

"Uchiha Itachi. He graduated the academy in only one year, and would've actually been out sooner had it not been a requirement that all aspiring genin have at least that much time in a classroom environment. You're a special exception to that rule since not only is the academy mostly unusable right now, but through the fact that you were granted permission by the council." Gohan just smiled and took his leave, stating that he had to go tell Hinata-chan and Sakura-san the good news.

Upon walking out of Iruka's house, Gohan stretched out his senses and found that Sakura was closer than Hinata so he raced to her location first. What he found when he reached her was that she, along with Kakashi and a disgruntled looking Sasuke were sparring in training ground seven, or more accurately, her and Sasuke were sparring and Kakashi was supervising.

"Sakura, you're not putting enough effort into your strikes! Sasuke, you need to calm down and quit allowing your anger to control you!" Kakashi sensed Gohan coming up behind him and coming to a stop next to him to watch as Sasuke pummeled Sakura with a little too much eagerness.

"Yo. Do you need something Gohan?" Gohan grinned and called for him to lean in. After a few seconds of whispering, Kakashi's visible eye arched into an eye smile. "Alright guys, that's enough for now. Now come here, I have some good news for you." Both quickly made their way over to Kakashi who threw their attention over to Gohan with a gesture. "I'd like for you to meet the newest member of team seven, Son Gohan." Nobody missed the intense glare that Sasuke sent Gohan but Sakura was happy for him.

"That's great Gohan! How did you do it so fast?" Gohan rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Well, I'm just really good at studying and I learn fast." Sasuke just snorted.

"And why is he on our team? We've already got all three members."

"Because after a small display of his skills, the council has decided that he would be a valuable asset to the village. Also, I volunteered since he's saved two of my students' lives already." Sasuke sent a glare at Kakashi, who only eye smiled in response, which only served to further agitate the Uchiha. "Actually, why don't you spar with him Sasuke? I'd like to see how well he can fight." Sasuke's glare quickly turned to an arrogant smirk as he thought of beating on the boy who'd forced him to draw out his cursed seal and earn himself a lecture and warning of being pulled off active duty if it happened again. At least, that's how he saw it. He couldn't let himself lose to someone like that after all. Gohan and Sasuke walked a fair distance away and got into their respective fighting stances.

At Kakashi's signal, Sasuke rushed forward and pulled out three shuriken which he launched at Gohan. Gohan mentally chuckled at such a forward attack and simply caught the shuriken out of the air. He took on a smug look at Sasuke's stunned reaction. Gohan tossed the shuriken up into the air and as they fell into his hand one by one he tossed them back at Sasuke with double the force. Sasuke barely managed to dodge them when he felt Gohan's presence behind him and suddenly felt a pain in his back as he was sent stumbling forward from a rather rough shove. He barely had time to recover as Gohan was already in his face with a left hook that sent him to the ground.

"Your attacks won't be as effective against me this time Sasuke-san. Now that I've seen a little bit of how you ninja fight I'll be more wary. Last time I made a mistake in letting you draw out that much power, and it's a mistake I won't repeat." Gohan phased out of sight and Sasuke instinctively activated his sharingan which allowed him to better track Gohan's movements. He saw him moving to get behind him and struck out with a roundhouse kick which Gohan blocked with a forearm even as he ducked to bring an uppercut into Sasuke's gut. Ignoring the pain, Sasuke drew a kunai and slashed at Gohan's face, nearly carving a gash into his forehead, but Gohan saw the movement and ducked back just in time. Sasuke's eyes widened when Gohan suddenly smirked and an invisible force sent him flying backwards, digging a trench into the ground when he landed. Sasuke was already forming hand signs by the time he'd gotten to his feet and was quick to launch a goukakyu no jutsu at Gohan's still form, but it proved to be an illusion as Gohan dissipated as soon as the fire struck him. Sasuke looked around frantically. 'Was that a bunshin? Where'd he go?' He caught a glimmer of movement out of the corner of his eye and ducked below a powerful kick that had been aimed at his jaw. He brought a hand up to his cheek and brought his fingers up to eye level to look at them, revealing that they'd come away with blood. Sasuke growled in annoyance but before he could do anything more Gohan had come upon him and twisted his arm painfully around his back. Sasuke rammed a leg back like a piston which forced Gohan to let go in order to protect the area where no male should ever be hit and Sasuke was quick to capitalize on the opening he left and swung around, hoping to catch Gohan with the back of his fist, but Gohan merely smacked his fist aside and slammed his own fist into Sasuke's forehead with just enough force to send him stumbling back a few steps. Gohan was about to press his advantage when Kakashi called a halt to the spar.

"That's enough you two. Well Gohan, it seems that your taijutsu skills are very well honed for someone of your age. Of course, that's to be expected of someone who can manage to land even a couple of good hits on Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke glowered angrily at the mention of his brother.

"Hn, he's just another dobe who gets lucky all the time like Naruto." Kakashi eye smiled at him.

"We'll just have to wait and see now won't we? Anyways, it's unfortunate but I'm not going to be able to train you guys for a while since it seems that I'm going to be doing a lot of high ranked missions for a while until Konoha regains its strength, as the village can't afford to show any weakness at a time like this. Sasuke and Sakura, you two are dismissed. Gohan, I've got one exercise I want to teach you before I go." Gohan nodded eagerly as Sasuke and Sakura went their separate ways, already having a good idea as to what Kakashi had in store for Gohan.

"Alright Gohan, I know you have the ability to at least levitate due to your current skills with energy, but in order to help increase your chakra control I'm going to teach you tree climbing." He chuckled lightly at the confused expression that overtook Gohan's features.

"But sensei, what does that have to do with chakra control?"

"Well, to put it simply, you're going to do it without the use of your hands." He looked around until he found a tree of decent height at the edge of the forest and motioned for Gohan to follow him over to it. Once he was sure he had Gohan's full attention, Kakashi casually walked up to the tree and didn't stop when he'd put both feet on the tree and proceeded to walk clear up to the top and then back down without stopping. Once he was back on solid ground he tossed a kunai at Gohan which was caught easily. "You're going to use that kunai to mark your progress. The idea behind the technique is to find the right amount of chakra to channel into your feet that will allow you to stick to the tree. If you use too much chakra you will be forcefully expelled from the tree and if you don't use enough you'll just slip back down. The theory is that if you can master this technique you'll be able to master nearly any jutsu. Now, since you're just starting at this I would suggest you get a running start." Gohan nodded and crouched in front of Kakashi.

On Kakashi's mark Gohan took off running at the tree and once he'd reached it managed to get about five or six steps up the tree before he found himself losing control and having to mark it. His loss of control was more than a little spectacular and with an explosion of bark he was repelled from the tree with so much force that he was sent rocketing into an unsuspecting Kakashi and the two found themselves unceremoniously tangled on the ground. Once they'd both regained their composure Gohan ducked his head in embarrasment and Kakashi sweatdropped.

"Okay that was...unexpected. Try using less chakra next time." Gohan only nodded and resumed his training, with Kakashi now making sure to stay at an angle from where he was climbing.

About two hours later, Gohan had now gotten himself halfway up the tree before losing control so Kakashi allowed him to take a short break.

"You're doing very well Gohan. I think you'll have it down by the end of the day." Gohan groaned inwardly. He really didn't want it to take that long, but he had to grudgingly accept it since chakra was still so new to him. It was a good thing that Iruka hadn't waited to give him his headband after all, considering that it didn't seem like he was anywhere near ready to start learning more advanced techniques just yet, so going after Naruto and Jiraiya would've been a waste of time at this point. Once Gohan had resumed his training, Kakashi had stuck around for a while, giving Gohan the occasional tip on how to better control his chakra until an hour later he said he had things to do and left Gohan to train by himself. He trained for another three hours before taking another break, having made it almost all the way up the tree before losing his control this time, and it was during this break that he sensed Hinata approaching. A smile lit up his face as he stood up and turned around to greet her with an excited wave.

"Hey Hinata-chan!" Hinata gave him a small smile and a blush at the excitement he was showing in his greeting.

"H...hello Gohan-kun. What are you doing?" He grinned and pointed to his tree which now had not only a large bare spot but many slash marks leading up its trunk, marking the progress he'd made in his training.

"Kakashi-sensei wants me to learn tree walking, so I'm gonna practice it until I've got it right." Hinata looked at the various slash marks and noticed that they covered a majority of the tree's height.

"Y...you're doing r...really well Gohan-kun. M...my team took two days to l..learn it." It was then that she truly noticed the hitai-ate he wore and pointed to it. "I...is that?" Gohan's grin widened so much it looked like his face was trying to split in half.

"Yep! Iruka-sensei says I'm ready to be a genin so he gave me this headband. I was originally hoping that he'd wait to give it to me so that I could still leave the village and catch up to Naruto, but it looks like he'll be back soon so I'll just have to wait to see him and Jiraiya-sama."

"I...I'm glad you made it Gohan-kun." Gohan's grin turned into a warm smile as he took her hand in his.

"Thanks Hinata-chan, that means a lot to me." Then something occurred to him. "Uhhh...why exactly are you here anyways? Did you come here looking for me or did you just come here to train?" Hinata's face turned a light red and she suddenly found the ground to be very interesting to look at.

"Ano...I was looking for you. Aside from N...Naruto-kun you're the only f...friend I have outside m..my team." Gohan also blushed a little, not being used to such attention from anyone outside his family. Hinata chose this moment to look up and mistook Gohan's blush as his face reddening from anger. With a horrified look on her face she twirled around to leave.

"G...gomen Gohan-kun. I...I didn't know you wanted to be alone." She hurriedly began walking away but Gohan reached out and grabbed her hand, resulting in a squeak of fear that made Gohan's heart sink. He gently turned her around so that she was facing him again and noticed a stray tear falling down her cheek.

"It's not like that at all Hinata-chan. I'm just...not used to this kind of attention. Don't worry, I like being around you, cause you're one of my first real friends." He gingerly wiped the tear away and gave her a comforting smile.

'**Heh, that one is strong, you should take her as your mate.**' Gohan nearly choked and quickly looked around for the source of the voice, earning him a concerned look from Hinata.

"G...Gohan-kun?" He shook his head and chuckled nervously at her.

"It's nothing, I just thought I heard something."

'**Well I should hope you heard me. You did after all finally accept me as a part of you, which means I can communicate with you freely now.**'Gohan fought hard to avoid looking around again as he figured out who it was that had spoken to him.

'What? But I thought you'd just integrate into me once I did that.' This earned him a derisive snort.

'**Baka, and you're supposed to be the smart one. You denied me as a part of yourself for too long, and as a result I am now my own permanent entity within your mind and thus I can communicate with you at will and vice versa. Anyways, I think you should take that one as your mate. If you pay attention, you'll be able to tell by her scent that she's strong. Just think of it, if you breed with her your kids will inherit her byakugan and be part Saiya-jin as well.**'

'What are you talking about?! I can't think like that right now! I've got to focus on getting stronger!'

'**If you've got time to make friends then you've got time for a mate as well. You need to lighten up and have some fun. The world isn't going to end if you don't become stronger right now.**' Gohan didn't answer and simply tuned the voice out. He didn't have time for petty arguments. He noticed Hinata's increasingly worried look and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Sorry about that Hinata-chan, I was just getting lost in thought." Hinata didn't look convinced, but didn't press the issue. Being a Hyuuga gave her a better insight into people's actions than what most had, and Gohan was clearly not telling her everything, but at the same time didn't seem comfortable with discussing it so she just nodded that she understood. Gohan let go of her hand and backed up a couple of steps. "Alright, just let me master this exercise and then we can do something after that." He quickly returned to running up the tree and after less than an hour was able to run up and down the entire tree without losing control of his chakra. After about his third trip up and down the tree, Gohan walked back over to Hinata and helped her stand up. She'd been sitting down so she could comfortably observe Gohan's training and congratulated him on its completion. Now, Gohan was furrowing his brow in an attempt at thinking of something to do. Then it dawned on him.

"Hey Hinata-chan, why don't you introduce me to your teammates? I'd love to meet them." Hinata agreed and led him around Konoha in search of her two teammates and sensei, but it was at another training area that they found both genin. She led Gohan up to a strange boy that wore a high collared trench coat and sun glasses that kept anybody from reading his face and a wild looking boy that wore a fur coat and had a puppy riding on his shoulder. The wild looking one noticed Hinata first and bounded over to her excitedly, giving Gohan a curious look as he did so.

"What's up Hinata? Who's this guy?" The other boy silently made his way over, also curious about Gohan.

"Ano...Kiba-kun, Shino-kun, this is Gohan-kun." Gohan smiled and waved at them in greeting.

"Hey guys, I don't know many people around here yet so I asked Hinata-chan to show me her teammates. My name is Son Gohan, what are yours?" Dog boy was the first to speak up.

"I'm Inuzuka Kiba, and this here is Akamaru." The puppy on his shoulder barked twice in greeting and Gohan reached over and pet him on the head, but when he got close Akamaru backed away and began wimpering in fear. Kiba cast a questioning glance at him. "Hey, what's wrong Akamaru?" Akamaru let out a couple of terrified barks and Kiba furrowed his brow in confusion. "What are you talking about? He doesn't look any different from the rest of us so what could be different about him? There was another couple of barks which prompted Kiba to roll his eyes and sniff at the air. He nearly recoiled at the scent he was getting and eyed Gohan warily. Gohan only looked at the pair with increasing confusion at their antics until Kiba spoke up.

"There's...something not right here. Your scent...it's...almost inhuman." Gohan tensed up and began panicking. Had he been discovered already?

'No! They can't find out like this! What am I going to do?!' Gohan barely noticed the bug that had been on his shoulder taking off and landing on the finger tip of the more silent teammate.

"It seems that his body chemistry is different from most people and he has a high body temperature." Gohan was about to try and speak in his defense but Hinata beat him to the punch.

"Ano, please be nice to Gohan-kun. He's a precious person to me." Kiba would hear none of this.

"Hinata, we don't know if we can trust him!" Hinata somehow managed to shoot Kiba a withering glare that sent him reeling back a couple steps.

"Gohan-kun has already stood up for me in front of my father and saved my life from enemy shinobi. How can you even think of him as an enemy?" Kiba was stunned to silence and had the decency to look properly chastised. While Hinata hadn't raised her voice the glare she shot towards him coupled with her unusually harsh words were enough that he didn't want to provoke her any more than he already had.

"Please accept our apologies for Kiba's reaction. He tends to be hot headed and irrational at times. One would think that he would have learned better than to judge someone just because they're different." Shino cast a pointed look at Kiba and Gohan rubbed the back of his head nervously while letting out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"It's okay..."

"Shino. Aburame Shino." Gohan grinned and gave him a thumbs up.

"Thank you, Shino-san."

"Just Shino will be fine." Gohan was forced to briefly wonder if even Piccolo was as stoic as the boy before him. He'd never seen anybody display such a lack of emotion before, and it slightly unnerved him, coupled with the hundreds, if not thousands of tiny energy signatures he could feel from within the boy.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you guys. So where's your Sensei?" Kiba had finally recovered from being berated and had returned to his normal energetic self.

"Kurenai-sensei said she was gonna be taking her own missions for a while so she's not around." Gohan nodded in understanding.

"Kakashi-sensei said pretty much the same thing. He said it's because the village can't show any weakness after being attacked." Even though Kakashi hadn't outright said that, it didn't take much to figure out what he'd meant, and it was pretty obvious that as an instructor of a team he didn't often take individual missions since he felt the need to alert his team. Gohan sensed the three presences coming well before he could hear the harsh female voice that hurt his ears.

"Quit stuffing your face all the time Chouji! Shikamaru, you should get him to stop, you're his best friend after all!"

"Tch, quit being so troublesome Ino. You should know by now that's how his family uses their jutsu. Besides, even though you say that do you really think even I could make him stop?" This voice was definitely male, though it sounded as though the owner would rather be sleeping than out walking around.

"Well, at least put some effort into your training this time! You may be a chunin now but you need training just like the rest of us!" Gohan turned around to see the blond girl from Inoichi's house walking between a rather large boy who was stuffing potato chips into his mouth and a skinny boy who had his hands clasped behind his head with a rather annoyed look on his face. The annoyed one took one look at Gohan and the others and seemed a bit relieved that the training area was already taken.

"Well Ino, it looks like we've been beaten to the punch this time. I guess we'll just have to postpone our training." Ino took one look at Gohan and recognized him from the other day.

"Hey Shikamaru, that's the kid I told you about before, the one that came to see my Dad. What's he doing with a headband though? He didn't have one before."

"Well, that would probably mean that he's become a ninja since the last time you saw him." This earned him a lump on the head courtesy of Ino's fist.

"I know that you baka! What I mean is how could he have become a ninja in that short time? There aren't any classes at the academy and now we have an odd number of genin!" Shikamaru looked at Ino thoughtfully as a cocky smirk made its way to his face.

"So you can actually be smart after all Ino, congratulations!" He continued before she had a chance to further retaliate. "It seems most likely that he's done something impressive which caused the council to allow him to become a shinobi, probably after some private tutoring. Am I right?" He looked at Gohan pointedly, waiting for an answer. Gohan just blinked for a moment, surprised that someone was able to figure it out so easily.

"Heh, you got me there. Iruka-sensei gave me lessons and said I'm ready so I'm on team seven now." Shikamaru's eyes widened significantly at hearing this.

"Hmm...You must've done something really exceptional to make it into team seven, Kakashi doesn't take on just anybody." Gohan felt a slight blush make its way to his face at all the attention he'd been receiving.

"That's what everybody's been telling me. It doesn't matter right now though, cause Kakashi-sensei said he's gonna be going on individual missions for a while so he won't be able to train us much."

"That's true, it seems most of the jounin are taking on more and more dangerous missions lately. Asuma-sensei said pretty much the same thing. At the same time it also seems that because of that, the genin and chunin will be getting tougher missions as well. It's crucial at a time like this for Konoha to show to the other villages that it's still strong enough to go about its normal business. To show weakness at a time like this could prompt an attack from one of our enemies. It's all rather troublesome, but that's politics." Gohan chuckled at Shikamaru's lazy attitude but realized that they hadn't properly introduced themselves yet.

"So what are your guys' names anyways? I'm Son Gohan."

"I'm Nara Shikamaru, the guy on the other side is Akimichi Chouji, and as you know this troublesome woman is Yamanaka Ino."

"It's nice to meet you guys." Shikamaru gave an unenthusiastic grunt, Chouji stopped eating chips long enough to wave, and Ino grabbed onto both their ears.

"Alright guys, as much as we'd like to stick around and chat, we've got some training to do since these two bums have been slacking off!" She smiled sweetly at Gohan and the others before dragging a complaining Shikamaru and Chouji off by their ears. Once they were out of earshot Kiba began laughing uproariously.

"Man, I'd hate to have a girl like that on my team. She's almost as bossy as my Mom!" Gohan couldn't help but chuckle when Kiba's statement reminded him of how his own mother got. He was forced to suppress a shudder when he remembered the many beatings he and his Father had gotten courtesy of the frying pan of doom. "Well, why don't we find something else to do Hinata-chan? Maybe we could watch some clouds or something."

"I...I'd like that Gohan-kun."

"Alright!" He waved to Kiba and Shino. "It was nice meeting you guys, see you later." Hinata said her goodbyes as well and they took off in a random direction in the hopes of finding one of Konoha's parks to relax in. After they were out of earshot, Kiba threw Gohan a suspicious glance.

"I don't trust that guy. Something's off about his scent." He studied Shino for a reaction, not that he expected one.

"You worry too much." Was all the boy said as he walked off to resume his training.

Gohan and Hinata found a nice sized park not too far from the academy, and found a nice shady tree to lay down next to. For a while they lay there in silence, enjoying the peace and serenity with the occasional sounds of kids playing. All in all, it was very relaxing and a couple times Gohan found himself drifting off, but tried to avoid it. Unfortunately, he didn't notice when he lost the battle and fell into a deep sleep. He startled awake to find that the sun was now setting and already halfway below the horizon. He looked to his left and saw that Hinata had also succumbed to sleep and had rolled onto her side. He smiled down at her and gently shook her awake, inwardly chuckling when she let out a surprised squeak and blushed in embarrassment. She realized where she was a moment later and calmed down, and Gohan showed her the setting sun.

"My Dad and I used to watch the setting sun every night before I had to go to bed. Mom always used to scold him, saying that he was keeping me up too late, but we could tell she didn't really care." Hinata seemed to get a faraway look as Gohan talked about his family.

"Y...your family must've been nice." Seeing the way she drooped, Gohan nodded and decided to change the subject back to the sunset.

"Isn't it pretty?"

"I...It's very pretty Gohan-kun, and I'm glad I c...could watch it with you." Gohan smiled as the sun sank below the horizon and stars began appearing in the night sky. He seemed to be lost in thought for a moment as he stared out into the dark depths of space, thinking about all he'd gone through out there and on planet Namek.

"Say Hinata-chan, do you ever wonder if there's any other people out there? You know, like on other planets?" Hinata took a moment to answer, as though pondering whether or not she should answer truthfully. After a short look into Gohan's eyes, she decided it couldn't hurt.

"Hai, I wonder about it sometimes, but Father says it's foolish and not becoming of a Hyuuga." Gohan rolled his eyes and gave a derisive snort before turning his whole body so that he was looking Hinata right in the eyes.

"Listen Hinata-chan, you can't let your Father run you like that. You have to make your own way through life, that might be part of the reason he sees you as weak. You have to stand up to him and show that you can defend yourself if need be. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

"H...Hai. You're saying that I should be my own person instead of letting everybody run my life." Gohan nodded and gave her a thumbs up.

"Bingo! You're a lot like me Hinata, you just want everybody to approve of you so you do everything that everybody tells you to do, and it overwhelms you doesn't it?" She lowered her gaze sadly, which was all the answer Gohan needed. Gohan used a finger to lift her chin up so that she was looking him in the eyes. "Those people who won't accept you for who you are don't matter Hinata-chan. You don't have to do anything but be yourself to make me happy, and I'm sure your friends and Sensei would agree. Now, do you want to know if there is life on other planets?" Hinata looked at him curiously for a moment, but hesitantly nodded. "Are you ready for such an answer right now?" She was now beginning to look confused, wondering what he was getting at, but decided to play along and nodded again. "Well the answer to that is yes, there is life out there on other planets. I know, because I've been out there." He gestured widely out at the sky. "There are many different alien races out there, some of them are friendly, but others are evil." Hinata had an odd look on her face, as though she couldn't figure out what he was saying.

"Y...you mean, you've really been out...there?" When he grinned widely and nodded, Hinata's jaw looked like it was going to hit the floor. "B...but how?" Gohan chuckled at her astonishment. While it was clear that Earth technically didn't have very good space travel technology, it seemed that out here in the shinobi nations it was nigh unheard of.

"Well, actually we first used the spaceship that my Sensei came to earth in, because he's an alien himself. After we got there though, our ship was destroyed and we had to use the ship that my Dad used to catch up to us in." For a moment, Hinata was entirely speechless but after a few moments she found her voice and was able to let Gohan know how impressed she was.

"Th...that's amazing Gohan-kun!" Gohan took on a serious expression, which calmed Hinata down a bit.

"Now Hinata-chan, I need you to promise me that you won't tell anybody else what I've just told you. This needs to be just between the two of us, okay?"

"Okay Gohan-kun." She didn't really understand why he wanted it kept a secret, but she silently vowed to herself that she'd never betray Gohan's confidence. Who knows, maybe he'd eventually tell her more about himself. She found herself hoping he would, as he seemed to have been through some interesting experiences. For a while, they sat there in silence, just enjoying each other's company and the view of the night sky. After about half an hour though, they both agreed that it was time for them to get some sleep, so Gohan walked Hinata home and returned to Iruka's house where he quickly changed out of his clothes and got into bed to enjoy a peaceful night's rest.

Sorry folks, but unfortunately in the last week or so I've gone from working 40 hours a week to 60 hours a week and that's going to cut into my writing time as i'll be quite tired most of the time. Do not fret however, as I do not intend to quit just because of that, it just means that things are going to slow down more than usual.


	11. Chapter 11

One week later, Gohan found himself walking around Konoha and enjoying the sights by himself, not feeling a particular need for company at the moment. Over the course of a week, he'd come to know the rest of the rookie nine a little closer and had even met Gai's students Lee, Neji, and Tenten. He slowly familiarized himself with the layout of Konoha as he explored the village and what it had to offer in the ways of entertainment and shops and found that the word village hardly described the place. Sure, there were no automobiles and the only skyscraper was the Hokage tower, but as for the sheer size of the village and the size of its populace the word village seemed like a gross understatement. Also during that time, he continually practiced the tree climbing exercise and also a few of the basic jutsu he'd learned in order to improve his chakra control, which was going at a steady rate. He found himself itching to learn more complicated techniques such as what Sasuke had used against him, but was quick to remind himself that he needed to master the basics before he took things any further.

Gohan was currently chatting with the guards at the north gate when he sensed four energies heading towards the village. Normally this wouldn't have caught his attention, but two of them he recognized as Naruto and Jiraiya. He grinned in anticipation as the two drew closer, hoping that maybe Jiraiya had more advanced chakra control exercises for him or at least a simple jutsu he could teach him. The gate guards curiously asked him why he was staring out the gate, so he told them about Naruto and Jiraiya so the chunin strained to see out the gate, but decided Gohan must be playing a trick on them when they didn't see anyone. Seeing the suspicion in their eyes, Gohan explained to them that he could sense a person's life force, and that the stronger their life force was the farther away he could sense them from. As he said this, two two figures entered the edge of his vision followed closely by two more. As the four figures made their way closer Gohan immediately recognized the first two as Jiraiya and Naruto, but the other pair were women he'd never seen before. So, apparently the new Hokage was going to be a woman. Once the travelers reached the gate Naruto bounded excitably up to Gohan and was failing miserably at trying to talk about the new jutsu that Jiraiya had taught him. Jiraiya rolled his eyes at the boy's antics but chuckled as he bopped him on the head. Naruto clutched his bruised cranium and glared at the toad Sannin.

"Ow! What the hell was that for Ero-Sennin?!" Jiraiya's eye twitched and he knocked Naruto upside the head hard enough to introduce his face to the ground.

"Baka! Nobody can understand what you're saying if you're going to talk so excitedly! If you've got something to say then calm down! And don't call me that!!" Naruto barely got up and out of the way in time to dodge another punch and stuck his tongue out at Jiraiya.

"If you don't want me calling you that then spend more time training me and less time peeking in the women's hot springs!" Jiraiya just hmphed and crossed his arms.

"I'll have you know that my research is vastly important to a large number of people. Just because you can't appreciate a true work of art doesn't mean you have to take it out on me." The well endowed blond behind Jiraiya had her own twitching fit before sending the self-proclaimed super pervert soaring through the air with a chakra enhanced punch.

"Stop being an idiot Jiraiya!" Jiraiya got up and grinned at Gohan while rubbing the lump that had appeared on his head.

"Hey there kid. How do you like our big happy family?" He chuckled a bit. "Ah, I see you've gotten yourself a headband. So you've decided to become a leaf nin eh?" Gohan beamed as he nodded.

"Yep, Iruka-sensei is letting me live with him for now until I can get my own place, and he taught me the basics of being a shinobi. The council agreed to let me in as a shinobi and Kakashi-sensei took me into his team." Naruto brightened up at the mention of team seven.

"So you're on my team? That's awesome!"

"Yep, but we probably won't be going on many missions with Kakashi-sensei for a while, cause the jounin and chunin have been getting a lot of missions lately to keep the other villages from seeing Konoha as weak. From what I understand though, we'll be more likely to get more dangerous missions as well." Gohan looked closely at the two women that had accompanied Jiraiya and Naruto to the village, trying to determine which one was to be the new Hokage. He looked to the older blond woman.

"I take it you're supposed to be the next Hokage?"

"Yes, I'm Tsunade, and this is my apprentice Shizune. What's your name kid?"

"I'm Son Gohan. It's a pleasure to meet you Hokage-sama." He gave a short respectful bow. Tsunade cringed at the title. Even though she wasn't going to back out now that she was here in Konoha, she was still a bit reluctant to take the position, though for different reasons than before. Now, instead of just thinking it a fool's job, she just felt that being called Hokage-sama all the time would make her feel old, and if the illusion of youth she kept over herself was anything to go by, it wasn't something she'd enjoy. Ah well, it was just something she'd have to put up with. She looked at Naruto with a mixture of awe and frustration.

'Damn that brat! How could anybody have guessed that he'd master the rasengan so quickly? I get the feeling he's going to be the source of a lot of headaches for me in the future.' She took another look at Gohan and corrected her earlier thought. 'Never mind that, something tells me this Son Gohan will be just as bad, if not worse.' She pinched the bridge of her nose as she felt the migraines coming already.

"Well, as much as I'd like to stand around and chat all day, Jiraiya and I have to report to the council." Jiraiya walked up next to her and waved Naruto and Gohan off.

"You two get out of our hair. We're probably gonna be busy for the rest of the day." He, Tsunade and Shizune walked off, leaving Gohan and Naruto to their own devices.

"Well, what do you want to do Naruto?" Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to decide between meeting up with the others or eating Ichiraku ramen which he'd been so horribly denied over the past month. It didn't take long for him to come to a decision.

"Eh, I wanna go see Sakura-chan and the others and see how they've been doing." Gohan nodded and the two walked off in search of one of the other rookie nine or even one of Gai's team members. Naruto was awed at the completely repaired state of the village and the minor changes that had come about as a result.

"Doesn't it look much better now? Repairs finished only a week or so ago." Gohan took a look around at all the buildings and took in the much more pleasant atmosphere that hung in the air than when he'd first shown up. "Now that I've witnessed what Konoha is like when it's whole, I can see why it could be considered the greatest of the shinobi villages. The people here have a certain air about them, a certain will to live life to its fullest. From what I've heard and read of the other villages, they focus on gaining power too much and it sacrifices the morale of their people." Naruto's thoughts drifted to one Sabaku no Gaara and the horrible fate thrust upon him by his own father just for the sake of power and found he couldn't help but agree.

"Eh, once I'm Hokage I'll find a way to change the other villages and make them treat their people better!" Gohan looked at him doubtfully.

"Are you sure you could accomplish something like that? The other villages won't just bow down to whatever you tell them to do, especially villages like Iwagakure that would rather see Konoha ground to dust." An evil grin formed on Naruto's face.

"Easy, I'll just bug them until they're willing to do anything to get me to leave them alone." He chuckled a bit, but quickly turned serious. "Once they see all the changes I'm gonna make around here they'll have to admit that Konoha isn't so bad after all, especially when I change those bastard Hyuugas!"

"Are you sure you'll be able to do that? It won't be easy you know. I've read a few things on the history of the Hyuuga and they seem pretty dead set on keeping things traditional."

"Hell no it won't be easy, but that's all part of the fun!" Naruto flashed Gohan his biggest grin and Gohan couldn't help but believe that Naruto would somehow find a way to achieve his goals in spite of the apparently overwhelming odds against him. It seems that his father wasn't the only person with boundless confidence and the ability to inspire said confidence into others.

"You know Naruto, I think my Dad would've really liked you. You're a lot like him. You somehow rub your confidence off on the people around you." Naruto blushed, not really knowing how to take the compliment. It didn't take the two long before they came across an annoyed Sasuke and a dejected looking Sakura. Naruto developed a twitch at the sight and, quickly forgetting about Gohan stormed up to Sasuke, getting in his face.

"Oy, did you coldly turn Sakura-chan down for another date teme?!" Sasuke looked at Naruto as though he hadn't noticed him until just then.

"Hm? Did you say something dobe?" Naruto growled and forcibly pushed a finger into his forehead.

"Sakura-chan's always nice to you and all you ever do is turn her down coldly. You don't even have the decency to be nice about it!" Sasuke smacked Naruto's arm away and snorted in annoyance.

"When Sakura realizes that I'm not interested and stops bugging me for dates all the time then I'll stop acting that way, but if she insists on acting just like another of those fangirls who won't respect my privacy then she doesn't deserve any respect." Naruto said nothing, only glared daggers at Sasuke who only happily returned the glare to the point where Gohan thought for sure actual daggers were going to start flying. Gohan heard chuckling beside him and saw that Sakura had taken to standing next to him. He cocked an eyebrow at her, wondering how she could go from dejected to amused in such a short amount of time.

"Don't worry about us Gohan-san, it's just something we do for fun. Well, at least part of it is. Ever since our first C-ranked mission those two have had a fierce rivalry. Gohan nodded in understanding, remembering all too well the rivalry his father had shared with a certain Saiya-jin prince. When it seemed that Naruto and Sasuke's verbal match was going to turn into a fist fight, Sakura bashed him on top of the head in mock anger.

"Quit bothering Sasuke-kun Naruto! Doesn't he have enough to worry about without you interfering?" She smiled and bopped him upside the head again for good measure.

"It's about time you came back you baka! Konoha just hasn't been the same without you around to annoy us!" Naruto couldn't help but smile while he nursed the bumps that had formed on his abused head.

"Eh, I'm glad to see you too Sakura-chan, but could you try to be a little gentler next time? My head isn't that hard you know." Gohan laughed at their antics and smiled warmly. 'So this is my team huh? I think I could get used to this.'

Orochimaru howled in agony and rage as he stood in the shower, blood seeping down his arms in small streams and mixing with the water on the floor.

"Damn that old man and his cursed technique! If he were alive right now I'd gladly sacrifice him to Manda!" He stepped out of the shower and headed to his throne room, where Kabuto awaited him with bandages and other medical supplies with which he would disinfect Orochimaru's dead appendages.

"Don't worry about it Orochimaru-sama. There's no way you could have known he would use such a technique, and even if you did it is very powerful indeed." If Orochimaru had use of his arms he would've viciously backhanded the boy. Instead he settled for a sharp glare and an angry hiss.

"Don't patronize me or I'll kill you!" Kabuto briefly halted in wrapping up his master's arms and bowed respectfully before continuing.

"My apologies, that was not my intention." Orochimaru just snorted.

"So, what have you found out about this Son Gohan I've heard so much about?" He would've asked earlier, but there hadn't been time while they were trying to find Tsunade and even less when they'd had to fight her, Jiraiya and Naruto. Kabuto snipped off the excess wrapping that dangled from Orochimaru's arms and inspected his work, finding it acceptable he put his supplies away.

"He's powerful indeed, though it will be difficult to persuade him to trust us. He knows of our involvement in the invasion of Konoha and it seems that he has allied himself with them." Orochimaru frowned at this.

"That could prove to be problematic. But," His frown turned to a smirk. "Everybody has their weaknesses. I want him watched. I want to know what makes that boy tick." Kabuto nodded.

"There are a couple of things that you might find interesting." Orochimaru watched him patiently, waiting for him to continue.

"First thing is that he seems to have grown quite attached to the Hyuuga heiress. When I administered my...test, he had been walking her home after eating with her. Also, in the middle of our fight he appeared to have a mental breakdown of some sort, which leads me to believe that he is currently...less than stable. This may be a side effect of Itachi's attack on him." Orochimaru chuckled evilly as he took in Kabuto's assessment.

"Excellent work as usual Kabuto-kun. Do you believe that you can lure him out with this information? The medic nin took on a sadistic smirk and nodded.

"Good. Perhaps I should switch bodies a little early this time. I had been hoping to wait for Sasuke-kun, but if we can convince Gohan-kun to take my little gift, then not only will Sasuke come to me for power, but we'll have gotten rid of a certain major thorn in my side as well. I want you to get the candidates for my body switch ready and after I change bodies we can discuss how we're going to lure Gohan-kun out. Kabuto bowed respectfully to his master and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Once he was gone Orochimaru's face twisted into a look of insane bloodlust.

"Yes, once Konoha realizes that their precious last Uchiha and his hero have come to me for power their morale will drop through the floor and then I will stand over them laughing when I burn their precious village to the ground."

Tsunade groaned as yet another large stack of paperwork was dropped on her desk. She quickly looked around, checking to see if her assistant Shizune was in the room with her. When a sweep of the room revealed her absence, Tsunade opened a drawer on her desk and pulled out a sake bottle that she quickly took a few swigs out of before slipping it back in. She growled as someone knocked on the door and prepared to throw the nearest heavy object within reach, but held back when she saw that it wasn't another chunin loaded down with more paperwork. The young man quietly closed the door behind him and approached her desk, having missed her putting the paperweight back down. Even though he wasn't bringing any more work for her, Tsunade still frowned at him.

"What do you want Gohan? In case you can't tell I'm very busy here." He nervously gave her a respectful bow as he could almost feel the tension and annoyance rolling off her in waves.

"My apologies for bothering you Hokage-sama, but I need to speak with you on a few things." She crossed her arms and scowled. She could already tell this was going to be trouble.

"Well? Speak. I don't have all day and I'm in a bad mood." Gohan just sighed and turned to leave. It had been hard enough to come here now, and he wasn't sure if he could do it again, but Tsunade clearly didn't wish to speak with him and he didn't really want to bother her.

"Well, if you're too busy I can always come back. I guess it really isn't a life or death matter." Tsunade's face softened at the disappointment in his voice.

"Wait. I'm sorry I was short with you. I'm just a little overwhelmed with all this paperwork. If you have something you feel you need to say then go ahead." Tsunade was glad to see him turn around with a grateful smile on his face.

"Thank you Hokage-sama. I'm not sure if I would've been able to attempt this a second time." She raised an eyebrow at him out of curiosity.

"What do you mean?" Gohan took a nervous look around the room before locking eyes with her.

"Can you assure me that we won't be overheard? This...isn't exactly something I want to be common knowledge if it can be avoided." Tsunade was taken aback by the mixture of seriousness and fear that she could read in his eyes. Whatever he had to say must be pretty sensitive if he wanted her to take such measures. She went through a few handsigns and muttered something under her breath before speaking to him again.

"Very well. I've put a soundproofing jutsu over this room. Nothing either of us says can be overheard now. Just make sure the door is locked so that nobody can walk in on us." Gohan quickly locked the door and took a seat in front of Tsunade's desk at her insistence.

"Now, let me make one thing clear Gohan. This information of yours will only remain private so long as I don't consider it a security risk to this village. Do you understand?" Gohan nodded solemnly so she smiled and gestured for him to begin.

"Well, I guess I'll have to figure out where to start." He sat in thoughtful silence for a moment before he made his decision.

"I guess the first thing I should say is that I'm not completely human." As Gohan looked into Tsunade's eyes he could see a mixture of emotions running through them. Shock, disbelief, amusement, and finally confusion. Could he be another Jinchuuriki like Naruto? She didn't get that impression, as she couldn't see the telltale loneliness and pain there, but one could never be too sure.

"Please explain, I'm not too sure I follow." Gohan sighed. He really didn't want to do this, but he needed for the village to trust him, and if he suddenly found himself in a situation where he had to unleash his full power, the village would probably be much less likely to trust him for keeping his powers secret.

"Well, my Mom is human, but my Dad wasn't." This only served to confuse Tsunade even more. It was already clear that he was no Jinchuuriki, but what could his father be if not human? Could he have been some type of demon?

"I still don't follow you Gohan. What could your father have been if not human?" Gohan had hoped that she would've picked it up from there, but apparently he was going to have to give details, something he'd hoped against hope that he could avoid.

"He's what is called a Saiya-jin. The Saiya-jins were a powerful race from another planet that look just like humans." He didn't really go into detail about tails, considering there was no longer a Saiya-jin alive that had one Gohan felt it was unnecessary information. Tsunade stared at Gohan for a moment before bursting into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

"Another planet huh? That's a good one Gohan. I must say you've managed to brighten up my day quite a bit with that one." She forced out between laughs. Tsunade's laughter slowly died down as she stared into Gohan's unamused and unflinching gaze and she paled.

"Y...you're serious." It was more of a question than a statement. She found herself having a hard time believing it. Sure, as a Sannin wandering throughout the elemental countries she'd seen many strange and bizarre things but aliens? That seemed to be pushing it a bit, and yet here this boy was saying he was half alien with a completely straight face. Either he was telling the truth or he was a very good actor and Tsunade would've (though thankfully she didn't) placed her money on the former. She had a feeling there was more to it than just that, so she settled back into her chair and resisted the urge to bring her sake back out. Gohan took this as a sign to continue and nodded.

"As I'm sure you've already guessed, there's much more to it than that. You probably noticed that I spoke of the Saiya-jins in the past tense right?" Tsunade nodded. It hadn't really registered at the time but now that he mentioned it she could remember hearing him say that.

"Well, that's because there's only one full blooded Saiya-jin left. Their home world was destroyed when my Father was a baby, leaving only six of them alive. One of them, my Father's brother, came to Earth in the hopes of recruiting my father, but died fighting him after trying to force him to join them. Two of the others came to Earth for revenge (he wasn't quite ready to tell her about the dragonballs yet, if he decided to tell her at all). One of the two that came for revenge was killed by his own comrade for losing against my dad while the other lost as well but managed to escape. Now, about two years ago we came across two more Saiya-jins that we'd never heard of before. One of them had been driven insane at some point during his childhood and was being controlled by the other, but he lost control and was killed for it. The other fought my Father, his friends and I and was killed as well, leaving only my Father and one other Saiya-jin alive." When it became clear he wasn't going to continue yet, Tsunade asked him a question that had been bugging her ever since she heard about the second group of Saiya-jins.

"What happened to the other Saiya-jin? You said there's only one left now. Did he come back to fight as well?" Gohan shook his head.

"The other one, whose name is Vegeta, later decided that it was in his best interests to fight with us. Though he fights alongside us for his own selfish reasons, he is no longer our enemy." Just from Gohan's choice of words, Tsunade could already tell who the last Saiya-jin was, and she felt sorry for Gohan's loss.

"Two years ago, only a few days to a week after we killed the other two Saiya-jins, we came across a powerful enemy that we had a hard time defeating. Because of my own arrogance, my Father was forced to sacrifice his life in order to allow us to defeat the enemy." It was brief, but there was a flash of intense grief in Gohan's eyes that a kunoichi of Tsunade's level couldn't miss. Her heart went out to the boy and she wanted to comfort him, but he clearly wasn't finished yet. If possible, his face became even more serious. We've fought more enemies than what I've just mentioned, but one thing you must understand is that these enemies were not just threatening individual people. They were, quite literally, threats to the entire planet, and some of them were threats to more than just Earth. My father took it upon himself to protect this planet with his life, and has passed that responsibility to me through his death. This is why I've become a shinobi of Konoha, so that I might become stronger so I can protect my family and friends. Now, there is one more thing I must address before I'm done. Being a Saiya-jin gives me a...kekkai genkai of sorts. I not only have superhuman reflexes, but I have superior senses and also the ability to transform into a Super Saiya-jin." Though she wanted to laugh at such a cliché name, Tsunade had to ask what a Super Saiya-jin was, lest the curiosity kill her.

"So what is this Super Saiya-jin? It sounds like something out of a bad movie." Gohan just chuckled in agreement before answering.

"Well, Super Saiya-jin is a transformation that gives me an enormous power boost. It's kind of like the difference in power between a genin and a jounin. Also, two years ago we discovered that there are multiple levels of Super Saiya-jin, each more powerful than the last." Tsunade got the feeling that this was pretty much all he wanted to say, so she took the opportunity to ask a question that had been bugging her since he'd asked her to soundproof the room.

"Why are you trusting me with this information?" Gohan sighed and took a moment to collect his thoughts.

"Well, based on a couple of fights I've already had with a few ninja, I'm worried that I may have to reveal my true abilities at some point, and I figure that I'd look less suspicious if I were to tell the Hokage. Also Hokage-sama, I ask that you keep this as secret as possible. I won't mind if you feel that there are people you must share it with, but please only do so with those that you know can keep a secret. Also, I would ask that you not tell Kakashi or anyone on team seven as I'd like to be the one to tell them that once we've gained each others' trust. If anyone else asks, please just tell them that it's a kekkai genkai that I inherited from my Father and that its name is unknown due to its rarity." Tsunade nodded.

"Those are reasonable requests. Though, I'd like to see this Super Saiya-jin transformation of yours." Gohan rubbed the back of his head and grinned nervously.

"Well, the thing is that when I transform the power kinda comes out violently, so if I do it in here it'll probably mess up the room." Tsunade looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Very well. While I find some of the things you've told me to be difficult to swallow, I don't think you're lying to me and your power doesn't seem to be a threat to this village, so I'll keep your secrets." Gohan gave Tsunade his thanks and a respectful bow before turning and leaving the room. As he left, he nearly bumped into Hiashi who was headed to the very office he'd just left. Hiashi simply brushed past him, not even acknowledging his existence as he closed the door behind him.

'Hmph! What an unpleasant guy. I can't believe someone like that is Hinata's father.' He quickly pushed the thought out of his mind as he focused on more important issues, or more specifically, training. He knew that most of the jounin were probably busy, so perhaps he could find Jiraiya or maybe Naruto, since he probably knew Jiraiya's usual hangouts. Since Gohan didn't really know where Naruto lived, he opted to see if he could find him at Ichiraku Ramen. As luck would have it, that's exactly where he found the blond in the middle of one of his favorite pastimes, getting Iruka to pay for his ramen. Naruto was speedily shoveling ramen into his mouth while Iruka smiled over at him and ate his own bowl at a more human pace. Gohan chuckled at the sight of Naruto nearly inhaling his food. It made him think of how his father ate. Of course, that didn't mean that Gohan ate at what would be called a normal pace, but Goku and apparently Naruto ate at a speed that left one to wonder if they even bothered chewing it.

"Hey Naruto, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto merely grunted, too absorbed in his eating to do anything more, but Iruka turned to him and waved.

"Hey Gohan. Would you like some ramen? My treat." Gohan just gave the chunin a blank stare for a moment.

'At the speed Naruto's eating, could he really afford to pay for mine as well? He must have a pretty large stash of money somewhere. I'll just have a couple bowls.' Mentally shrugging, Gohan accepted and took a seat on Iruka's other side. He glanced over to Naruto, who was still stuffing his face and decided to take a chance.

"Uhhhh...Naruto?" Naruto glanced over at him, his mouth bulging unnaturally with food. "I was wondering if you might know where I could find Jiraiya-sama. I was hoping he could give me some training." Naruto tried to speak through a crowded mouth, which caused his words to come out in an unintelligible jumble. Gohan sweatdropped at this and Iruka suddenly developed a dangerous looking twitch over his left eye.

"Swallow your food Naruto! Nobody can understand what you're saying if you're gonna talk with a mouth full of food!" He bonked Naruto on the head, causing the blond to accidentally swallow his food before he was ready, which lead to him turning blue as he choked on it. After beating himself on the chest a couple of times and clearing his airways, he glared at Iruka.

"Why'd you do that?! I would've heard you just fine without you hitting me on the head!"

"Ha! And it would've gone in one ear and out the other! Knocking you upside that thick skull of yours is the only way to make anything stick in there!" Gohan felt another sweatdrop forming as he watched the two bicker.

"Uhhhh...guys? I'm still waiting to hear where Jiraiya is." Naruto just looked at him and snorted in irritation.

"Knowing Ero-senin he's probably peeking at one of the women's hot springs." Gohan said his thanks and left as Naruto and Iruka resumed their arguing, with Iruka getting Naruto in a headlock the last thing he saw.

Not really knowing where the hot springs were, and not really wanting to ask anybody, Gohan just wandered aimlessly through Konoha until the sound of lecherous giggling reached his ears. Now, this was a very familiar sound to Gohan due to the time he'd spent around Master Roshi on Kame island, so he was instantly able to pick it out and locate Jiraiya who was crouched on a high tree branch overlooking his oblivious victims. Though Gohan found Jiraiya's activities rather distasteful, he wanted to remain on the toad Sannin's good side and so felt that the subtle approach was best. He called out to the super pervert in as loud a voice as he could without alerting the women relaxing in the hot spring.

"Jiraiya-sama?" Jiraiya didn't even bother looking at him and just waved him off. Gohan twitched an eyebrow and called out to him again, only this time he was completely ignored. A vein began sticking out on his forehead as he became increasingly irritated at being ignored in favor of such...immoral behavior. He formed an evil smirk as his Saiya-jin side kicked in and gave him some advice.

**'I know it's not your normal behavior, but he can't just get away with ignoring you like that. I bet he'd be a little more willing to listen if he was given some...motivation. Give him one more chance, but don't warn him. If he ignores you again...well, you know what to do.' **Gohan called out to Jiraiya one last time, but was again ignored so the malicious grin returned as he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out at the top of his lungs.

"**QUIT PEEKING ON THE WOMEN YOU PERVERT!**" Gohan's smirk turned to one of satisfaction as there were suddenly at least a dozen screams coming from inside the hot spring and Jiraiya was shocked into losing his balance and falling...right into the hot spring. For a brief minute all activity in Konoha ceased as the tortured cries of a pervert being subjected to the righteous fury of at least a dozen women echoed throughout the village.

Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office, Tsunade was plotting Jiraiya's demise until she remembered that she was currently in a meeting with Hiashi. She sighed as she forced herself to push her retribution to the back burner and focus on her guest.

"Now then Hyuuga Hiashi, you say that you do not trust Son Gohan. Am I understanding you right?" Hiashi's face twisted into a grimace of utmost distaste at the mention of the boy's name and he nodded.

"That is correct Hokage-sama." Tsunade leaned forward and began tapping her fingers on her desk, appearing thoughtful.

"Okay, could you please reiterate to me your reasons for this? Just to make sure I heard you correctly." Hiashi eyed her warily for a moment. Something about her tone...he mentally shrugged it off and did not allow his suspicions to show outwardly.

"Very well Hokage-sama. I don't trust the boy because he is a complete unknown. He just appeared in the hospital one day out of nowhere, having been brought in by one Maito Gai with claims that he fought and somehow survived an encounter with Uchiha Itachi. I find it dubious that someone so young, and claiming not to have been trained as a shinobi, could last two seconds against someone like that, let alone get in a few good hits as the reports suggest. This leads me to believe that he is hiding his true abilities. There is also the fact that when the council was interrogating him, I scanned him with my Byakugan and what I saw does not coincide with his story." This last part caught Tsunade's interest.

"What is it that you saw that could make you say that?" Hiashi looked thoughtful for a moment as he thought back to what he saw.

"To begin with, the boy has very thick chakra coils. In fact, most ANBU don't have coils that thick. Also, I noticed some oddities in his chakra network. From what I saw, he not only has more tenketsu, but that very few if any of his tenketsu are placed in the normal locations. Also, his chakra network seems to have broken off where his tailbone is, suggesting that there was at least one appendage there at some point. This leaves the possibility that he may not even be human. Perhaps he could be one of the tailed demons in disguise, or something else entirely." Then, if possible, his face showed even more disgust, as though what he were about to say was going to make him unclean. "Of course, all of that pales in comparison to the fact that he saved _that _boy."

Up until that point, Tsunade's intention had been to merely tell him that Gohan had told her some of his secrets. Not in detail, mind you, but that what he had told her pretty much nullified any surprise she might have at hearing this. However, when he'd spoken that last sentence, her entire demeanor changed, though once again she didn't let her emotions show.

"And what boy would you be talking about Hiashi?" She didn't need to ask, not really. She knew _exactly_ who he was talking about, she had after all, kept in minimal contact with her old sensei the third Hokage while she was gone. She'd had many reasons to stay away from Konoha for so many years, but when she'd learned of how the villagers were treating the poor boy, she began feeling something she'd never thought she'd feel for her home village, disgust. The way Hiashi spoke of Naruto sent her into a rage so great that words failed to describe it. It was only a testament to her self-control that she didn't smash Hiashi through a wall right at that instant. Hiashi, none the wiser, chuckled.

"Forgive me Hokage-sama, I seem to have forgotten how long you've been away. I'm talking about Uzumaki Naruto." The instant those words left his mouth, Hiashi knew he was going to severely regret them when Tsunade's face twisted into a nearly inhuman snarl of rage. Before he could react, Tsunade slammed her fist into her desk, splitting it in half before gripping him by the throat and throwing him against the wall so hard that cracks spider webbed out from the point of impact. Hiashi groaned in pain as Tsunade put her face only inches from his. When she spoke, her voice had a dangerous edge to it that allowed for no argument.

"You know, you _almost _had me fooled Hiashi. For a moment I thought that you actually had genuine concerns for the safety of this village, but with that one sentence you've just revealed the heart of the matter. Can you tell me of one instance, just one, where Naruto has threatened this village?" Her question met only silence, so she pushed him even harder into the wall, eliciting a grunt of discomfort from him.

"No?! I didn't think so. Don't think that when I left this village that I didn't keep in contact with Sarutobi-sensei. I know full well how Naruto has been treated by this village and its shinobi and you know what? It killed the third just a little bit every day that he could do nothing to stop it. I left Konoha because of bad memories, but I still thought of this place as the greatest shinobi village in existence, until Sarutobi-sensei told me how Naruto was being treated. This is not the Konoha I left. This is not the Konoha that my grandfather and granduncle died to protect. This is not the village that Sarutobi loved. This is not the village that Namikaze Minato sacrificed himself to save from the Kyuubi. This village has allowed itself to become rotten to the core, to allow itself to turn on and abuse not just a human being, but a child no less, because of something they're too blinded by hate and fear to understand!" Tsunade's face had lost it's sneer as she spoke, and now she had the beginnings of tears in her eyes.

"That boy, that poor boy. He's had to endure so much pain because of this village's willful ignorance. From the first time I saw him, I could see it. So much pain and loneliness behind those eyes, and yet he can forgive this village so easily." She had lost control, and the tears now spilled down her face. Hiashi tried to speak, but she cut him off.

"And the worst part, the worst part of all is that it's just been an excuse from the start. You all claim that he's the Kyuubi itself, or that the demon is or could control him, but if you really believed that, you would have treated him with respect. No, this village has never seen him as the Kyuubi, Naruto just happened to be the container, and so was the closest you all could get to the demon. Naruto was nothing more than your scapegoat, your fall guy. And you Hiashi, you've got the least excuse out of anyone! You were Minato's closest friend! You knew that his last wish was that Naruto be viewed as a hero! You've shamed his memory Hiashi! This entire village has shamed itself!" Tsunade suddenly felt weak and dropped to her knees, losing her grip on Hiashi as she did so. Hiashi's hand immediately went to his bruised throat as he sucked in much needed oxygen. He bowed deeply to Tsunade as he headed for the door, but stopped in the entrance. He spoke in a quiet voice.

"It appears Hokage-sama, that I have much to meditate on." Thus, Hyuuga Hiashi left the Hokage tower a humbled man. As soon as he was out of earshot, Tsunade lost all strength to hold it in and broke down sobbing. Moments later Shizune rushed into the room.

"Tsunade-sama! Hiashi-sama said..." Her eyes widened at the sight of Tsunade, on her hands and knees and sobbing like she'd just gotten news of a loved one's death. She instantly rushed to Tsunade's side and pulled her into a tight embrace. Shizune's mind was racing. What could have caused this? The only times she'd ever seen the strong woman cry were when Dan and Nawaki had died. It wasn't too long before Tsunade made the reason known, and later, when she was alone, Shizune wouldn't be able to help but break down and weep herself.

"I...I know Shizune. I know why they're called Jinchuuriki now." Shizune immediately knew she was talking about Naruto. "I...had always thought it was because of the demons they carry, because of the burden they carry of protecting their villages. I...I was wrong. I was so horribly wrong." She had to stop momentarily to choke back a sob that threatened to overtake her.

"Why Tsunade-sama? Why are they called Jinchuuriki?" Tsunade continued as though she hadn't heard the question.

"When I read in Sarutobi-sensei's reports, I thought I understood what was going on and I became ashamed of this village. When Hiashi mentioned Naruto, I saw his eyes and I knew, I just knew that up until now I haven't even had the slightest clue about what he's suffered through. I saw it in Hiashi's eyes. So much loathing, so much hatred and fear, I couldn't even begin to describe it. I...how could Naruto endure it? How could he withstand that from the entire village and keep his sanity? Why didn't he become just like that Gaara child? How can he still want to be the Hokage of such a place? This village, it doesn't deserve someone like him Shizune." Shizune sighed sadly.

"I know Tsunade-sama, but Naruto doesn't care about that, because he's a hero. A real live hero."

And that's it for chapter 11. What did y'all think? I hope that ending wasn't too sappy. I know you're probably anxious to see how Jiraiya reacts to Gohan's little surprise attack, but you'll just have to wait till next chapter. I know, I'm evil.


	12. Chapter 12

Naruto couldn't help but grin when he came upon a beaten up and irate looking Jiraiya grumbling at Gohan about interrupting his "important research". Once he and Iruka had calmed down and finished eating, Naruto, having nothing better to do, excused himself and set out to find Jiraiya and Gohan, hoping for some training or at least something to take the edge off his boredom. His grin broadened as an idea occurred to him on how he could annoy the self proclaimed super pervert.

"Oy Ero-Senin, did you get caught peeking again?" Jiriaya's eye twitched at the barb.

"Stay out of this brat, it doesn't concern you!" Naruto just laughed at his expense.

"Ha! As if! Those women probably heard you giggling a mile away!" Jiraiya suddenly developed a very dangerous looking twitch in his left eyebrow and stomped over to Naruto with the intent of pounding some respect into the boy, but Naruto had other plans.

"**Pervert!" **Jiraiya looked like he was about ready to laugh at the blond.

"That's not going to work Naruto, Gohan already..." Jiraiya was cut off as the same angry mob of women from before came stampeding back out of the hot spring and began to once again pummel Jiraiya within an inch of his life. Naruto snickered and beckoned Gohan over to him. When Gohan got close, Naruto leaned into his ear and began whispering.

"I know a technique that'll make him do whatever you want. It's how I got him to train me in the first place. Are you interested?" Gohan brightened at this and nodded fervently. Naruto grinned as they separated and he went through the hand seals necessary to perform a henge. There was a puff of smoke and where Naruto once stood there was now a beautiful and very nude blond vixen with clouds covering her in just the right places. She winked at Gohan and spoke in a very flirty tone.

"I call this my oiroke no jutsu. It's good for distracting perverts if you have to get away and for making Ero-senin do whatever you want. What do you think Gohan-kun?" She giggled and winked at him again. Now, if you were to really think about Gohan and how his life has been up to this point, it wouldn't be very difficult to understand why he reacted the way he did. Most people would probably say that he's no longer innocent after having seen death so many times and having fought through life and death battles, but innocence is not measured by just one factor, rather there are several factors that determine how innocent one is. While it is true that in the matters of life and death Gohan could no longer be considered innocent, as far as matters of the opposite sex goes he was probably more clueless than anyone else his age, having never really been around any females of his age that he could develop any kind of a crush on. And so, it should come as no surprise that upon witnessing such an...exotic technique, Gohan's face lit up enough to resemble a tomato as all the blood in his body rushed to his head which lead to his pulling something Hinata would be very well known for. Son Gohan fainted.

As soon as Gohan's head hit the ground, Naruto dispelled his technique and stared at the half Saiya-jin in confusion. Something like that was the last reaction he would've expected. To be honest, everyone else he'd ever used the technique on had gone through one of two different reactions. The first reaction would obviously come from the perverts, as this usually entailed a lecherous grin, then uncontrollable giggling, and then a sudden eruption of blood from the nose that would usually send said pervert flying several hundred feet through the air. Of course, this reaction varied depending on the pervert as some would skip one or both of the first two and go right to the blood explosion, or would control it better and only get a small trickle that could be easily cleaned up. This reaction usually came from men, though to Naruto's occasional horror some women would also fall prey to such a response. Of course, the second reaction always came from those with a higher moral standing, or from repeated victims of pervertedness. Now, the second reaction could vary widely depending on the person and even more so the gender of the person, though one factor always stayed the same, and that would be the righteous fury at such a despicable technique being used. Usually, if it was a man the technique was being used on they would get annoyed or give Naruto some type of lecture, but if it was a woman, well, let's just say that Naruto would be lucky to come out in one piece. But this...this was something he never would've expected to happen. So it was to the scene of Naruto staring blankly and confusedly at an unconscious Gohan that Jiraiya came upon once he managed to get away from his latest peep victims.

"What the hell happened to him?" It took Naruto a moment to register Jiraiya's presence, but when he did he broke out in an uncontrollable fit of laughter at the sannin's roughed up appearance. Jiraiya scowled at him but repeated his question, hoping to get the topic away from himself. Naruto once again took on a look of confusion.

"I don't know. I just showed him my oiroke no jutsu and he turned red like Hinata does and fainted. I wonder if she got him sick. Jiriaya shook his head and chuckled in amusement at Naruto's naivety.

"Maybe." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small grey bag. He held the bag in front of Gohan's nose for a moment before the boy shot awake.

"Now, what was it you wanted from me Gohan?" He asked, his previous anger at having his research interrupted forgotten in light of amusement at Naruto's usual obliviousness and Gohan's previous situation.

"Actually, I was going to ask if you could help me with my chakra control. Kakashi-sensei already taught me tree walking, but I was hoping that maybe you had something more advanced." Jiriaiya raised an eyebrow at him.

"So I take it you've already mastered tree walking?" After receiving an affirmative nod, he led Gohan over to a nearby bridge which allowed people to cross over the stream that led into the hot springs.

"What I'm going to be teaching you now is an advanced chakra control exercise called water walking. Water walking is much more difficult to master than tree climbing, as instead of releasing a set amount of chakra you must release a constant flow to balance yourself on the water, or else you'll sink. I'll demonstrate it for you before you begin your training." He stepped up to the edge of the water and gathered chakra in his feet and slowly took several steps out on the water, giving Gohan enough time to observe the technique in detail. Gohan's eyes widened in surprise when Jiraiya didn't immediately sink into the water. Sure, he'd believed the toad hermit when he'd explained the technique to him, but to see it in action was another matter entirely. He grinned in excitement as he gathered chakra into his feet, all the while thinking of all the impressive techniques he'd seen so far, until his thoughts were rudely cut off as he immediately sank underneath the water, only to come flying out of it seconds later red as a tomato. Jiraiya grinned mischievously and chuckled at his antics. Oh, how payback was sweet.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that this water is what feeds the hot springs? Silly me. Well, you may want to figure it out quickly or you'll be boiled like a lobster. Now, you'd better get started unless you plan on wasting the day away like that." He sat down to observe Gohan's training and was impressed when it only took him three hours to stop sinking to the bottom. Not to say that he had mastered it, but the boy was already able to keep himself at least partially afloat, which was saying a lot by itself. After about another hour, Gohan had finally gotten to the point where he could walk on the water without sinking. He looked over to Jiraiya and twitched in annoyance to find the man sleeping under a nearby tree. Utilizing a trick he'd learned from his father during their training before the Cell games, Gohan concentrated on the water around him and used his energy to lift a good portion of it out of the main body. Sweating at the massive amount of concentration this required, he slowly guided the water over top of Jiraiya's sleeping form and released it, causing Jiraiya to jump awake, sputtering and turning red from the heat of the water. Gohan inwardly laughed at the sight but outwardly just rolled his eyes.

'Serves him right for going to sleep when he was supposed to be training me. This is supposed to be one of the strongest ninja in the world? Psh! How irresponsible. It's a good thing I was with Naruto at that motel or who knows what might've happened.' Gohan slowly made his way over to an irate yet oblivious Jiraiya and put on an innocent face.

"Are you alright Jiraiya-sensei? What happened?" Jiraiya just growled irritably.

"I was paying too much attention to your training and not enough enough to my surroundings and somebody snuck up and dumped water on me." He failed to mention the part where he was sleeping, not wanting to further irritate the boy lest he be put through more physical pain. Gohan just brushed the comment aside and informed Jiraiya that he'd mastered the technique. This caused Jiraiya to sweat a little as it signified that Gohan knew he'd been sleeping, but relaxed when no immediate retaliation presented itself. Jiraiya told Gohan to show him, so he walked out onto the water and ran a couple laps up and down its length. When Gohan returned to him Jiraiya nodded his approval.

"Good. Normally I wouldn't do this, but since you seem to be a promising student if you show up here again tomorrow at the same time I might teach you a ninjutsu or two. For now though I've got research to conduct." Without another word he disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Gohan stared at the spot he'd been standing in for a moment.

"I've gotta learn how to do that." Having nothing better to do, he went to search for Naruto, who'd left complaining of boredom after the first hour of his training. He hardly got two steps when an ANBU with an eagle mask on appeared before him.

"Son Gohan, Hokage-sama has requested your presence in her office."

"Alright, thank you." The ANBU merely nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Immediately after the ANBU was gone, Gohan took to the rooftops and headed for the Hokage tower at top speed, wondering why she would want to see him so soon after he'd left. Once he reached the Hokage's office, he was further confused by the presence of Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata and Shikamaru. Tsunade greeted each of them with a serious expression.

"Good, you're all here. I'm sure you all are wondering why you've been called here, so I'll ask Shikamaru to explain the details of your mission. The young Chunin sighed in annoyance as he began explaining what they'd all been called to do.

"As troublesome as it is, we've recently received word by messenger bird that one of Orochimaru's experiments has somehow managed to escape captivity and wants to give us some information on the location of at least one of his bases and also some of his plans for the near future. Basically we're to rendezvous with this guy at the border to rice country at a place called the valley of the end and escort him to Konoha. Due to the potential threat of being attacked by Sound nin, this mission is considered to be A-rank. Are there any questions?" Gohan tentatively raised his hand. Shikamaru nodded in his direction, motioning for him to speak.

"Um, doesn't this sound a lot like it's a trap? I mean, from what I've read about Orochimaru he's pretty sly and extremely cautious. The fact that this person escaped alive and somehow also managed to get access to a messenger bird seems pretty suspicious to me. Also, I'd like to know why you picked me for this mission since you don't really know what my skills are." Shikamaru smirked at his questions. This guy was pretty observant.

"Actually, that's why we've gotten such a large squad. We're just as suspicious as you are, but this is a trap that we need to spring, if only to put even a small dent in Orochimaru's forces. Who knows, we may even get lucky and if the person does turn on us we can capture and interrogate them. Now, I won't lie to you about why you've been placed on this team. As a "gesture of goodwill" our client has given us a bit of information that indicates that Orochimaru has taken some interest in you. This is also why Sasuke has been chosen, as Orochimaru has already expressed interest in him during the chunin exams. So, what it all boils down to, is that you're bait for our own trap, which is hopefully to lure the snake out of hiding." Gohan nodded, indicating that all of his questions had been answered, but something still bugged him. The whole thing was just too obvious. 'If Orochimaru is as much of a genius as his reputation suggests, then I don't see how he would make such a sloppy trap. Either he's extremely arrogant and foolish or there's more to this than what we're seeing.' His other half chose this moment to speak up.

'**Very true. Don't forget what that Kabuto guy said before though. This must be his master's way of meeting with you.**' Gohan agreed with his Saiya-jin half. It made sense, as the supposed captive could've given up much more important information than Orochimaru taking interest in someone. It became clear to Gohan that this was a double layered trap. He didn't say anything though, as he figured it couldn't hurt to hear the man out, and he certainly wouldn't get any other opportunity to meet with him. He returned his focus to the real world to notice Tsunade looking each of them in the eye in turn.

"Are there any more questions?" When no one spoke up she nodded. "Very well then. You have one hour to prepare for this mission. After you've gathered your supplies and prepared, meet up at the west gate. Pack for an over night mission. Now get moving!" They all nodded and headed their separate ways. After the room cleared out, Tsunade pulled a bottle of sake and a small dish out of a hidden compartment in her desk. After downing her first dish she sighed. "I've got a bad feeling about this mission. I hope they make it back alright."

One hour later, Shikamaru had everyone triple checking their supplies. After it was confirmed that everyone was ready he motioned for them to gather around him. Once he was certain he had everyone's attention he began explaining how they were going to be traveling.

"Alright, we're going to be traveling in a single file formation. Sasuke, with your sharingan you should be able to detect any genjutsu or traps that we might walk into so you'll take point. I'll be next in line so that I can grab any enemies that come from the front with my kagemane no jutsu, and I'll also be checking for enemies from the right. Gohan, you'll be placed behind me so that I can aid you quickly if any enemies try to concentrate on you. Also, you'll be responsible for watching our left flank and the rear. Naruto, you'll be next in line so that you can take care of attacks from any direction with your kage bunshin, and also you'll be Hinata's main backup as she'll be the rear guard since her byakugan will allow her to easily detect any ambushes from behind. Any questions?" Once again, it was Gohan who spoke up.

"Yeah, when can we expect to meet up with this prisoner? Nobody really mentioned it in the breifing." Shikamaru was seriously considering playing shogi with Gohan at some point. He was clearly asking questions that most genin and even a lot of chunin might not even consider, though it would certainly be convenient information. He couldn't help but sigh in frustration though.

"Well, the message didn't give any clear indication of when the prisoner would be arriving, no doubt in case the message were to be intercepted, so we're giving them until tomorrow night to show up." Naruto opened his mouth to protest but Shikamaru cut him off before he could begin yelling. "Yes, I know it's troublesome but we've got to work with the information we have. Believe it or not, there are many A and S rank missions where little to no information will be available, so we should be grateful we were even given a specific area to meet." Shikamaru waited a second, and when no more questions came ordered everyone to get into formation. At Shikamaru's order they took off at a brisk pace, as he wanted to have ample time to set up traps and devise possible strategies should this indeed turn out to be a trap.

For the first hour of travel everybody remained silent, each one lost to his or her own thoughts. Surprisingly, even Naruto had kept quiet, though nobody really bothered to notice. Thus, after about another half hour of travel Gohan was a bit startled when Naruto was suddenly running alongside him with an expectant look on his face.

"Did you say something Naruto?" Naruto sighed as he repeated himself. This confused the half Saiya-jin as Naruto's entire demeanor seemed to have taken a complete one-eighty from his previous experiences with the boy.

"I asked if you'd thought of something the rest of us haven't on this mission. You had a pretty thoughtful look on your face during the briefing." Gohan's eyes widened in shock and fear. Had he been that obvious? He mentally cursed himself for not hiding his thoughts better when Naruto chuckled.

"What's so funny?" He asked defensively. Naruto just waved him off.

"It's nothing. It's just funny how surprised people get when I say something smarter than what they expect. I'm not as stupid and hyper as I let everyone think I am. I'm no genius like Shikamaru, but I'm sure as hell not an idiot either." Gohan struggled with what he wanted to say for a moment before words came to him.

"But...why are you telling me this? You've known the others a lot longer than you've known me, so why are you telling me this instead of one of them?" Naruto studied him closely for a moment as he formulated his answer. He was forced to put his answer on hold however, when he noticed that the others were beginning to realize how quiet he'd been.

"We'll finish this discussion tonight after we've set up camp." He then turned his attention to Shikamaru and put on his biggest grin. "Oy Shikamaru! How much longer till we get there? I'm bored!" Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and sighed, grumbling about troublesome blonds under his breath.

"We've still got about another two hours and fifteen minutes at this speed.." Naruto took on a look of frustration.

"Well can't we go faster then? I could be using this time for training instead of running!" Shikamaru just groaned out his annoyance.

"Don't be an idiot Naruto. We have to be able to keep a watch out for enemy traps and genjutsu. If we just rush in at top speed we'd be putting ourselves at an unnecessary risk." Naruto puffed his chest out in pride as he ran.

"Ha! I won't let any traps get in my way! Let 'em throw everything they've got at me and I'll still kick their asses!" Naruto's tirade was abruptly cut short when a look of surprise came across his face and he tripped and fell face first to the ground, disappearing in a puff of smoke on contact and revealing it to be a kage bunshin. Shikamaru smirked and was hard pressed not to chuckle at Naruto's antics. When he first saw Naruto running side-by-side with Gohan, his first instinct had been to scold him for breaking formation but he'd kept silent when he caught sight of another Naruto still in position in his peripheral vision. A light chuckle from Sasuke drew his attention forward.

"Smooth move dobe. You can beat anything the enemy throws at you but lose to a rock?" Shikamaru's hands were already covering his ears before Naruto had the chance to retort.

"What was that teme?! Why don't you come back here and say that to my face?!" If they hadn't been on a mission right now, the two probably would've been glaring daggers at each other by this point.

"Will you two please quit being so troublesome and give the rest of us a break? I think all the yelling is giving me a migraine." Needless to say, the rest of the journey went on in uninterrupted silence, though the atmosphere was now less tense than the initial hour and a half had been.

Everyone was in awe when they finally reached the valley of the end. What they saw before them wasn't much more than a regular valley, complete with cliffs and a waterfall that fed into a rather large lake. What really brought attention to the area though was the presence of two massive statues depicting men getting ready for battle. The statues brought a sense of power and majesty to the area that suggested that something earth shattering had taken place here. Even Shikamaru couldn't help but gape at the sight. They were so caught up in taking in the scenery that they almost missed Gohan's question.

"So this is the valley of the end huh? What are those statues for?" All eyes turned to Shikamaru. If anybody had an answer to this he would. He narrowed his eyes as he recalled what he knew of the area.

"Those statues represent the Shodai Hokage and Uchiha Madara. I don't think there's anybody alive that knows what really happened here but I've heard stories. As I'm sure you all know Konoha was founded by three people, those three being the Shodai Hokage, the Nidaime Hokage and Uchiha Madara. From what I've heard, the First and Madara, despite being best friends had a disagreement on what the laws of the village should be and the Uchiha tried to leave. The First followed him here and tried to stop him, but he wouldn't go willingly so the Hokage tried to force him to go back. Supposedly, their battle was so fierce that it carved this valley out, and so these two statues have been erected here in remembrance of such a massive battle. The only one not astonished at the idea of witnessing such a destructive battle was Gohan, as he'd taken part in battles just as destructive and one in particular that had been even more so. The story wasn't quite over yet though as Naruto had one thing bugging him.

"So who won?" Shikamaru took a long look at the statues.

"Well, it's said that Madara lost and escaped with his life, but was never seen or heard from again. Some say that he died shortly after the battle, but others think that he's still alive to this day. Nobody really knows." After several minutes of staring at the statues, Shikamaru mentioned that they should get camp set up, so they each went off to search for a suitable location. In the end they decided on a spot between the lake and the forest so that they'd be close to fresh water and also cover were they to fall under attack. After everyone had set their tents up Gohan and Naruto volunteered to go get the firewood they would need should their informant not come till the next day. Gohan didn't argue when Naruto offered help, despite not really needing it. He got the feeling that it was about the conversation they'd been having earlier, and so accepted Naruto's help with a nod. And so, the two genin disappeared into the forest in search of a more private place in which to speak. They traveled for several minutes into the forest before they found a fallen tree which they sat on, confident that they were far enough away from the camp to avoid being overheard.

Naruto and Gohan both stared down at the ground for a moment, each wondering what it is they should say but Gohan was the first to speak, deciding to just pick up where they'd left off last time.

"So...why is it that you've decided to trust me? Like I said before, you know the others a lot better than you know me." As he had when asked that same question earlier, Naruto took a moment to stare into Gohan's eyes, but this time he nodded as though he'd found something he'd been looking for.

"It's because when I look at you I can tell that you're different like I am. I want us to be able to trust each other, but you also need to know that I'll do anything to protect my precious people, so if you're hiding something that could cause trouble for us later I'll make you regret it." Gohan took a moment to contemplate his thoughts, trying to decide what he felt safe talking about at this point. One thing was certain though, he had to get Naruto to trust him.

"Don't worry Naruto, I won't hold back any information that I think might be important. I just have a lot on my mind right now." Naruto studied him for a moment but eventually accepted his answer. After that they set about gathering up firewood which didn't take long as Naruto nearly tripped over a fallen tree which they cut up and took back to camp. By the time they made it back Sasuke, Hinata and Shikamaru's tents were already up and Sasuke had gotten enough fish to feed everyone. Gohan immediately set to arranging the firewood in such a way as to minimize the amount of smoke while also making it easy to put out at a moment's notice should the need arise. After he'd lit the fire Hinata offered to cook the fish and Shikamaru, who'd been cloud watching got up to go set up some traps around the perimeter of the camp. After about an hour and a half they were all sitting around the camp fire eating their fish as the sun began to sink towards the horizon and night slowly began taking its hold over the land.

"So Shikamaru, how are we going to be doing the night watches?" Gohan asked between bites of fish.

"We'll each take a two hour watch so that we each get eight hours of sleep. I'll take first watch, Naruto can have second watch, then you Gohan, followed by Sasuke and then Hinata. Anybody have a problem with that?" When nobody spoke up he nodded and dismissed them all for the night.

Four hours later Gohan was startled awake when he felt something poking him. He looked up to see that Naruto had been nudging him with his foot. It didn't take Gohan more than a moment to wake up and seat himself by the fire as he and Naruto bid each other goodnight and Gohan began his two hour watch. Gohan decided to pass the time in meditation. Not only would it exercise his mind but he would also be able to focus better on his senses which would allow him to keep a higher level of awareness to his surroundings. Half an hour into his meditation he felt a tug on his senses, but to his surprise the energy was already within five miles of the camp! Gohan quickly got up and made haste to wake Shikamaru up, who then instructed him to wake the others up. It didn't take long before the fire was put out and they were hurriedly discussing what needed to be done.

"Alright guys, we're going to have to meet up with him before he possibly wanders away so we'll have to make this quick. I know we've already discussed this before we left but I'll stress it again, we must be ready for anything. Naruto, I want you to create a few clones and send them to hide in the forest in case this turns out to be a trap. Naruto nodded and a hand seal and puff of smoke later five clones were hidden from sight and keeping an eye on the camp and the area around it. Shikamaru nodded his approval and turned to the others.

"Don't forget, keep an eye on this guy but don't seem too suspicious. If this guy really is what he says then you could scare him off and we could lose a valuable information source. If you see something suspicious use the code word _snake_. That will be the signal to apprehend him." Everyone nodded their understanding so Shikamaru leapt up into the trees with the others following in their preset formation with Gohan leading them to their client with his sixth sense. After several minutes of traveling Hinata signaled that she'd spotted the client, so on Shikamaru's signal they all dropped down out of the trees in front of their client. Shikamaru immediately began sizing him up, hoping to catch some indication of his intentions, though it was for naught as the man kept his emotions well hidden. He wore a grayish robe with a white undershirt and what appeared to be a large purple rope tied around his waste. His most prominent features however were the two red dots that adorned his forehead and his pale skin. He approached them with his hands in the air in a placating gesture. Though he spoke to them, his face betrayed no more emotion than his demeanor, seemingly even less so if that were possible.

"I assume that you are the Konoha contingent that has been assigned to meet up with me?" At Shikamaru's nod he took a step forward and brought his arms down.

"I am Kaguya Kimimaro, and you are?" Shikamaru sighed at having to put in the effort of introducing himself, but did so anyways if only to make their guest with an unknown allegiance more comfortable with them.

"I'm Nara Shikamaru and these troublesome people are my team. He motioned for them to introduce themselves. Gohan was the first to go and gave a polite bow.

"I'm Son Gohan, it's nice to meet you Kimimaro-san." Hinata went next, also giving a polite bow.

"I...I'm Hyuuga Hinata." She looked like she wanted to say more, but her shyness overcame her and she kept silent. Kimimaro put on a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Ah, the Hyuuga heiress. I'm honored that such an important figure has been sent to ensure my safety." Hinata could only blush and look away at such a compliment. The next person to introduce themselves was Sasuke, who grunted with annoyance. Something unidentifiable briefly flashed through Kimimaro's demeanor when he caught sight of the Uchiha but it was gone as quickly as it came and those that caught it made sure to take special note of it.

"Uchiha Sasuke." He said no more which led to Naruto grumbling something about bastards and acting cool before realizing it was his turn. He grinned at Kimimaro and gave him a thumbs-up.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'll kick anybody's ass that tries to get you!" Sasuke coughed but the word "baka" was left a little too obvious for even Naruto to miss. He turned on Sasuke and raised his fist.

"What was that teme?!" He shouted at the top of his voice, prompting Sasuke to clean his ear out with his pinky and pretend as though he hadn't heard a thing. This raised Naruto's ire even more and he got in Sasuke's face. The two glared daggers at each other for a few moments before Shikamaru cut in.

"Alright Naruto quit acting stupid. It's time to head back to camp so we can decide on what to do next. We'll follow the same formation we've been using except that Kimimaro-san will be between Gohan and Naruto. They all nodded and were back in formation within moments and on their way back towards their camp. Along the way Naruto tried a few times to start a conversation with Kimimaro but was only met with a wall of cold indifference. This annoyed the blond, but he decided it was best to just keep it to himself as he'd just end up being scolded by Shikamaru and laughed at by Sasuke.

Once they got back to camp Sasuke relit the fire and Shikamaru motioned for everyone to gather around it. Kimimaro made sure to stand next to hinata, "accidentally" bumping into Naruto when he tried to take the spot he wanted. He apologized to Naruto, but Shikamaru had noticed the exchange and narrowed his eyes for a moment. In the end he said nothing though he did use a hand sign to signal to the others to be on alert. Such a thing was suspicious but not enough to warrant hasty action. Kimimaro saw the sign but pretended not to notice. After all, to them he was nothing more than an escapee, even if they were suspicious of him. Shikamaru cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"Well, now that we've caught up with our client we have to decide if we should head back to Konoha now or wait until morning. I say it's best to leave now but I'll let you guys have your input as well."

"Shikamaru-san, Gohan-san looks tired so maybe we should wait until tomorrow." Gohan was about to speak up and say that he wasn't tired until a sudden wave of exhaustion fell over him that nearly brought him to his knees. Shikamaru stared at him for a moment. Something wasn't right. That was just too sudden for his liking.

"What about your pursuers? Aren't you worried about them catching up with you?" Kimimaro gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile, but still it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Do not worry yourselves about my pursuers. I managed to lose them not long after I sent my message. No doubt they have caught back on to my trail by now but I managed to get a good head start on them." Shikamaru frowned and looked Sasuke directly in the eyes before flitting them to Gohan, indicating he wanted him to check on Gohan with his Sharingan. The exchange only lasted for a split second before Shikamaru continued his exchange with Kimimaro, hoping he hadn't caught the subtle gesture as he'd tried to make it look more like an exasperated roll of his eyes.

"Your message seemed to be a lot more urgent than that. Are you sure something like that would be safe? I mean, Gohan could probably make it back to the village as he is. There's no reason to take an unnecessary risk after all."

While Kimimaro was distracted with his conversation with Shikamaru, Sasuke quickly activated his sharingan and wasn't too surprised at what he saw. Gohan was indeed being influenced by a genjutsu, though the source did not seem to be Kimimaro, so who could it be? He took a quick look around but could see nothing out of the ordinary. Even so, it was time to end this charade.

"Hn. I don't think it would be a good idea to camp here tonight." All eyes turned to Sasuke, waiting for an explanation.

"I just saw a _snake_ in the grass, which means there could be more around." At the mention of the word snake Kimimaro saw everyone around him springing into action so with a speed none of them expected he got behind Hinata, pinned her arms to her sides with one arm and grew a single sharp bone spike out of his fingertip before putting it to her throat and jumping back several feet. At that moment one of Naruto's clones came out of the forest from the opposite side of Kimimaro with a panicked expression on his face.

"Hey! We were ambushed! I'm the only one left!" Naruto stared at the clone for a moment and frowned. He'd just felt his clones get dispersed the moment Kimimaro had grabbed Hinata. There shouldn't be any left unless...

"You're not a clone! Show yourself you coward!" The clone put on a sadistic smirk and licked his lips before being engulfed in a cloud of smoke.

When the smoke cleared, Sasuke and Naruto tensed out of fear, Shikamaru cursed, Hinata tensed and Kimimaro smirked.

Well, that's it for this chapter. My apologies for taking so long but with me now working 50 + hours a week on top of a computer virus that messed up my internet and took nearly a month to get rid of and having to rewrite parts of this chapter it's been difficult for me to do much. Hopefully now that my computer isn't sick anymore I'll be able to have more time to write but I can't make any promises. BTW, as I'm sure you all have noticed I intend to make Naruto a little smarter in this story than he is in cannon. Please note that he will not be super smart, he will just be a little more thoughtful about what he does.


	13. Chapter 13

When Kimimaro grabbed Hinata Gohan's first instinct was to rush over and knock him away from her but decided to wait and see how things would play out. If it came down to it he'd directly interfere, but if he could get her out of the pale man's grip without displaying any out of the ordinary skills it would definitely be preferable. His attention was quickly diverted when out of nowhere one of Naruto's clones came rushing out of the forest. That is, it felt like one of Naruto's clones until Gohan felt an anomaly in its energy and upon closer inspection found it to be an imposter. Before he could say anything though Naruto had already called the imposter out and in a puff of smoke the imposter was revealed. When the smoke cleared Gohan had to to stifle a gasp at the aura of utter corruption surrounding the man as well as his predatory appearance. The man wore the same clothing as Kimimaro, and had shoulder length black hair with the complexion of someone who hadn't been out in the sun for years. What truly struck Gohan as frightening however were the man's eyes. Where most people had whites, this man's eyes were yellow and his pupils were black and slitted, reminding Gohan of a snake's eyes. Gohan gasped as when he looked into the man's eyes his immense exhaustion was replaced with a feeling of utter terror, and suddenly he found himself witnessing his own gruesome death at his hands. The man gave the group before him a good looking over and took on an unpleasant smile when he caught sight of Gohan.

"Ah, you must be Gohan-kun. I've heard so much about you." Gohan's terror washed away in that moment, yet when he spoke his voice was raspy and he had a sudden and agonizing thirst. Somehow, he managed not to stutter.

"Who are you?" His response was a cold laugh that brought a shiver down Gohan's spine.

"My name is Orochimaru." He said nothing more as he walked up to Gohan and began circling him, as though scritinizing every inch of his body. "Yes, you are a fine specimen indeed. If I had not already found a body with an ability I need I may have chosen you to be my next container. Although since you've caught my interest after your fight with Itachi I have something I wish to give you, but first I must get us some privacy." He then turned to face the others and made a string of hand signs.

"Futon:Daitoppa! (Wind release: Great Breakthrough!) With startled yells, curses and a barely discernible utterance of troublesome, Naruto, Sasuke and Shikamaru were all sent flying away in different directions. Smirking, Orochimaru turned his attention back to Gohan and motioned to Kimimaro, who pinched a nerve on the back of Hinata's neck which effectively knocked her unconscious.

"Now that those pests have been taken care of we can get down to business. I've been informed by my servant Kabuto that you are seeking power, is that correct?" Gohan narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists.

"What have you done with the others, and why have you taken Hinata hostage?" Orochimaru raised an eyebrow at Gohan and looked as though the question had come as a surprise.

"You don't need to fear for your friends Gohan-kun. I simply sent them away so that they wouldn't interfere. As for the Hyuuga heiress, she will not be harmed either. This is all for the sake of deception Gohan-kun. This mission, as well as Hyuuga Neji's mission have both been set up to keep suspicion away from you. This is all for your benefit." This only served to make Gohan even more suspicious. It wasn't too difficult to figure out that he would be considered a traitor to Konoha if he were to go to Orochimaru willingly, but he didn't understand what it had to do with Hyuuga Neji, or Hinata for that matter. Sensing Gohan's suspicion and curiosity, Orochimaru explained:

"Kabuto has observed that you have grown attached to the Hyuuga heiress, so I had a follower of mine set up a mission that would require Neji-kun's skills with the byakugan while at the same time I set up this mission that would still benefit greatly from the use of a Hyuuga, ensuring that Hinata-chan was sent with you. The original plan was for Kimimaro here to run off with Hinata-chan while threatening her life if anyone but you were to follow. However it looks like my little trap aroused more suspicion that what I had planned for and so it has come to this. I'm sure you are wondering why I even care to bother keeping you out of suspicion correct?" At Gohan's nod he continued.

"As I'm sure you've probably guessed, I have something I need you to do in return for my helping you out should you accept." Before Gohan could say anything he raised a hand up in a placating gesture.

"Just hear what I have to say before you make any brash decisions. What I'm going to ask of you is something that would benefit your precious village in the long run. Yes, it benefits me as well which is why I am asking you, but keep in mind that I won't be asking you to do anything that would harm your village." Gohan's instincts were screaming at him to just grab Hinata and run, but this was an opportunity he couldn't just waste. Not if he wanted to get stronger. That didn't mean he trusted Orochimaru though.

"What is it you want?" Orochimaru grinned, glad that Gohan was willing to listen. If he accepted this could make things much easier for him in the future.

"I want you to kill Uchiha Itachi. That man has been a thorn in my side for too long and he must be eliminated. I would do so myself but his organization is already keeping me under close scrutiny as it is. If they were to suspect that I was going to move against them I would be killed. You however are of no importance to them and thus you could catch them off guard. This will be easier for you to accomplish while still a member of Konoha, which is why I went through all of this trouble to keep suspicion off of you. So what do you say?" Gohan closed his eyes and relaxed as he mulled it over in his head for a few minutes.

"So, what can you do to help me? Is it some sort of training? Is it a technique?" He caught a brief glimpse of a gleam in Orochimaru's eye that was gone as soon as he'd noticed it."

"I've been told that you recently had an altercation with Sasuke-kun, is that correct?" Gohan nodded, not sure where this was going.

"I've also been informed that you witnessed strange markings covering his body accompanied by a large leap in power. Is that also true?" Gohan again nodded, though a little more enthusiastically due to his curiosity overriding his prior reservations.

"That is a result of what I call my cursed seal. It is a seal that I would place on you that would increase your power many times over. I would give you that same power." Memories of Sasuke's bloodlust and loss of control sprang into Gohan's mind but he quickly dismissed them. Someone like Sasuke would be more likely to abuse such power, but he wasn't feeding his negative emotions like what Sasuke tended to do, so perhaps he'd be able to control the power better. Gohan still had one more question though.

"What are the risks for this power? Any power that would come this easily has to have some kind of risk to it." Inwardly Orochimaru was surprised that Gohan would ask such a question, but he gave no outward indication.

"Very astute question Gohan-kun. Yes, there are risks and I won't sugar coat it. If your mind is weak the seal will slowly eat away at your personality, turning you into nothing more than a bloodthirsty killing machine. However, judging from what I've heard of your battles that shouldn't be a problem for you. Sasuke-kun's mind is weak from his brother killing his clan off and then subjecting him to Tsukiyomi which is why he lost control when he fought you." Gohan mulled his words over for a minute.

"Okay, I'll do it." Orochimaru licked his lips in anticipation.

"Excellent. But first, I'm afraid we'll have to fight. Your teammates might find it suspicious if you somehow managed to get your friend back without a single scratch. Without warning a horrible weight descended upon Gohan and he suddenly found it difficult to breathe or even move.

'What is this feeling? It's not ki and I haven't learned how to sense chakra yet, so what could he be doing to cause this...pressure?' Without warning Orochimaru's tongue shot out to an unnatural length and wrapped around a stunned Gohan's neck. Orochimaru slowly made his way over to Gohan while chuckling sinisterly.

"What's the matter Gohan-kun? Where's the skill you showed against Itachi?" Gohan ignored him and eyed Kimimaro, who still held onto Hinata. While he didn't think that he'd been lied to, he still didn't trust these two not to try something funny, so he resolved to get Hinata away from Kimimaro before he had a chance to actually harm her. While he was distracted though, Orochimaru took advantage of his lack of attention and threw several kunai at him.

"You shouldn't let your guard down so easily Gohan-kun, you could get hurt." At the last second before impact however, Gohan disappeared from sight, leaving the kunai to embed themselves in a tree behind him and causing Orochimaru to grin in anticipation as he brought his tongue back into his mouth.

"It looks like I'll get to have some fun with you after all." He heard Kimimaro let out a grunt and turned to him only to see that Gohan had knocked him unconscious and had taken Hinata from him. He took Hinata to a safe distance away from the fight and quickly returned to an amused Orochimaru.

"Now that our little distractions are out of the way maybe you can take this fight a little more seriously Gohan-kun. How about we make things a little more interesting?" Gohan could only watch on in horror and disgust as Orochimaru tilted his head back and a snake emerged from his mouth with the hilt of a sword sticking out of the snake. After he'd pulled the sword out, he swung it around a few times to warm up.

"How do you like my sword? It's called the Kusanagi, and it wants to taste your blood." As Orochimaru said this, he slowly melted into the ground and when he next spoke his voice seemed to be coming from all directions.

"Can you defend against my attacks if you can't see me Gohan-kun? Let's see how well you fight against an enemy you can't find." Gohan closed his eyes and relaxed his stance, focusing solely on the energies around him. When he located Orochimaru's energy signature he found him to be...

"Below!" Gohan leapt to the side as the ground beneath his feet exploded outwards in a mess of dirt, leaves and twigs and before Orochimaru could even blink an invisible force slammed into him, sending him through several trees before his momentum ran out and he crashed to the ground in an ungraceful heap. He was instantly on his feet though and with an unnatural show of flexibility bent his back so that his torso was parallel to the ground in order to dodge a vicious right hook that could have shattered his jaw. As soon as Gohan retracted his fist Orochimaru bent his back even farther until his hands were touching the ground, leaving his body in a momentary upside-down U shape until he brought his legs up in an attempt to catch the boy in the chin. It would have worked had Gohan not spun to the side just enough for the leg to pass mere centimeters from his face. Orochimaru wasted no time in pushing off the ground with his hands to leap over the glowing energy sphere which hit a tree and blew it to splinters. Orochimaru turned and gawked at the remains of the tree.

'What sort of attack is that? Was that a blast of pure chakra? No, there's no way for the boy to have enough chakra to be throwing it around like that and I would have sensed it. Yet it has to have been an energy of some sort because I could feel the heat radiating off of it.' So focused on the odd attack was he that Orochimaru failed to noticed a second energy blast until it slammed into his back with concussive force, sending him through the space where the destroyed tree once stood and into another one several feet behind it. Before he could even slump to the ground though Gohan appeared next to him and connected an earth shattering punch directly into his face which sent him crashing through half a dozen trees before he finally came to rest. Gohan once again appeared by him to press the attack further but was shocked and more than a bit disappointed when Orochimaru melted into a pile of mud. Gohan stretched out his senses in an attempt to locate Orochimaru, but to his surprise couldn't find him. His brow furrowed in concentration as he put more and more effort into finding the Sannin's energy signature, but no matter how hard he tried, it almost seemed as though he'd disappeared off the face of the earth.

'Where is he?' Something prickled in the back of Gohan's mind and he focused on it, and to his horror, Hinata had awoken and was quickly closing on his location. He grunted in annoyance.

"Damnit Orochimaru I don't have time for this!" Cruel laughter echoed throughout the forest seemingly from all directions, making it impossible to determine its point of origin.

"What's the matter Gohan-kun, can't you find me? And it seems like your friends are all closing in on us. What will you do?" Gohan narrowed his eyes and scanned over a larger area and cursed again as he realized that the others had finally regrouped and were also heading this way, though it seemed they were performing a large sweep of the area as they moved. He cursed under his breath just as Orochimaru's energy signature once again caught his senses...right below him. His eyes widened in surprise and he jumped into the air in the hopes of avoiding whatever Orochimaru was planning. His jump was executed a little too late though and a fist caught him directly under his chin mere moments before a long tongue wrapped around his waist and threw him into a tree.

"Gohan-kun!" Gohan looked up to see that Hinata had finally reached the battlefield.

"Stay away Hinata! This place is dangerous!" There was a chuckling in his ear.

"You should be more worried about yourself Gohan-kun." Gohan suddenly found himself bound in place and being pushed forward as Orochimaru somehow came out of the tree that had been behind him.

"Go find the others! Hurry!" Anything else he might have said was cut off by a searing pain in his shoulder. He almost didn't hear Hinata shriek over his own agonized scream. He looked to his left shoulder to see that Orochimaru had dug his fangs into the spot where his shoulder met his neck. He screamed again and brought his hand up to clutch the spot where he'd been bitten when Orochimaru let him go and turned him around so they were face to face.

"Wha...wha..." Gohan uttered weakly. Orochimaru licked his lips in anticipation.

"That is my gift to you Gohan-kun. I hope you enjoy it." He watched with glee as the seal started to take shape. Suddenly the pain in Gohan's shoulder increased tenfold and he fell to the ground and started rolling around.

'It hurts!' Another tortured scream tore itself from his throat as liquid fire ran through his veins. He rolled back and forth, smacking at himself in a desperate attempt to put out the fire that singed his insides. Ignoring Orochimaru, Hinata ran over to Gohan's side and tried to look him over to see what was wrong. She called out to him, desperately trying to get him to tell her what was wrong but he couldn't even hear her, couldn't see her. Noting existed to Gohan but the white hot fire that threatened to consume him whole. He could almost feel his bones turning to ash and his organs liquefying as his blood boiled. Then it all stopped.

"Hinata watched with relief as Gohan finally stopped thrashing around when the pain finally became too much and he passed out. Knowing she wouldn't get far carrying him, she sat down in the grass and put his head in her lap, trying to make him as comfortable as she could until the others found them. To aid them in their search, she pulled out a smoke bomb and tossed it as high as she could, followed by a shuriken that upon impact ruptured the smoke bomb and detonated it., hopefully alerting the others to her location. She gasped when she realized that she'd forgotten about Orochimaru and made a quick scan of the area, but to her surprise, she and Gohan were alone.

Shikamaru was annoyed when one of Naruto's clones interrupted his searching.

"What do you want Naruto, we don't have time to waste you know." The clone rolled its eyes but relayed the message it had been sent to deliver.

"The boss spotted a smoke cloud about half a mile in the direction we're heading. He's already sent another clone out to let Sasuke know." Shikamaru nodded his thanks and picked up the pace as he sighed inwardly.

'This mission has turned out to be more troublesome than it's worth. I just hope Gohan and Hinata are alright.'

It only took him about two minutes to find Hinata and Gohan, with Naruto and Sasuke arriving shortly after. Immediately upon seeing Gohan's condition, everyone gathered around him and Hinata.

"What happened here?" Shikamaru nearly flinched at the worried expression on Hinata's face.

"I...I don't know. I was knocked out and...when I woke up he was fighting Orochimaru a..and he b...bit him. If I had been stronger..." Naruto was quick to cut her off.

"No Hinata, this isn't your fault. Orochimaru is a Sannin, there's nothing you could have done." Hinata nodded slowly, but it was clear she was struggling to hide her worry.

"W...we have to hurry back to Konoha, h..he's got a really high fever." Shikamaru cursed under his breath.

"I wish there was a way to get a message back so they'd know to be ready." That's when Naruto got an idea. Shikamaru and Sasuke looked at him strangely when he bit his thumb and went through several hand seals. He placed his bit hand on the ground and with a puff of smoke a human sized toad appeared, earning a stare from Shikamaru, who hadn't seen Naruto fight Gaara and a glare from Sasuke who was being reminded that Naruto was no longer inferior to him. Shikamaru quickly recovered and pulled out a scroll, writing down the situation before handing it to Naruto who sent the toad to Konoha at top speed to deliver the message to the gate keepers. The toad was already out of sight after several seconds had passed.

"Let's get going guys, Gohan's not going to get better from us just sitting here gawking." The others nodded and after Naruto summoned two clones to carry Gohan they set off for Konoha as quickly as they could.

Izumo and Kotetsu were bored. No, even bored wouldn't begin to describe the monotony of watching the gate all day long while various Konoha nin left and entered the village as they set out for or completed their missions. Their peace was about to be disturbed however. Looking up from a book he was reading, Izumo looked out into the forest to see a blurry figure approaching. He nudged Kotetsu, who'd fallen asleep. The chunin was instantly alert and looking about to make sure he hadn't been caught by the wrong person. Izumo chuckled a bit at his alarm but pointed him towards the forest.

"Looks like someone's in a hurry." His partner just shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

"It's probably just another jounin returning from a mission. No reason to get all worked up." Izumo shook his head as he strained to see the still blurry figure as it came farther and farther into focus.

"I don't think so. I can't really tell from this distance but the form doesn't look human." After a few moments of staring, his eyes widened in surprise.

"I think it's a toad!" Now this caught Kotetsu's attention.

"Is it one of Jiraiya-sama's summons?"

"I don't know, but we'll find out soon enough." Within another minute the toad landed harshly in front of their guard shack, kicking up a cloud of dust that sent the two chunin into a coughing fit. When the dust cleared, they saw that it was an orange human sized toad with blue spots and battle armor. It turned to them and lowered its head so they could see the scroll it was carrying. Kotetsu got up and approached it cautiously, wary in case it turned out to be a trap. He took the scroll from the toad's back, after which it dismissed itself in a puff of smoke. Kotetsu took it back into the shack and he and Izumo scanned it for foreign chakra or anything else that might mean a trap. Kotetsu slowly opened the scroll and upon reading it his eyes widened and he turned to Izumo.

"I've got to get this scroll to Hokage-sama!" At Izumo's curious look he showed him the scroll and Izumo ushered him out of the shack.

"You get that scroll to Tsunade-sama! I'll wait here for them." Kotetsu nodded and with a hand sign body flickered out of the area.

Tsunade stamped probably the thousandth paper of the day and had just started reading the next one with a depressed sigh when Kotetsu suddenly barged into her office, nearly shaking the entire room from the force he'd put into throwing the door open. Her first instinct was to yell at him and start throwing things at him for just barging in like that but that died when she saw the serious look on his face and the scroll in his hand. He hurried up to the desk and sat the scroll down. She frowned up at him.

"What's the meaning of this Kotetsu?" He bowed to her in apology.

"My apologies for my abruptness Godaime-sama, but Izumo and I just received this scroll via messenger toad. It relates to team Shikamaru and their mission to escort Orochimaru's escaped prisoner." Tsunade nodded and her eyes widened in shock at the message.

"Shizune!" It only took a moment for Shizune to make it to her master's office.

"What do you need Tsunade-sama?"

"Find Jiraiya and tell him to meet me at the west gate as soon as possible. It looks like our old teammate has struck again." Shizune wanted to argue that as Hokage she shouldn't just leave the village like that but the look in Tsunade's eyes brooked no argument so she quickly bowed and hurried off in search of the only other Sannin still loyal to Konoha. After she left, Tsunade stood and walked over to the window behind her desk to peer out over the village.

'Just what are you planning Orochimaru?' She stood there watching the village for a moment longer before turning and leaving the room. She had medical supplies to gather, after all.

Fifteen minutes later found Tsunade approaching the west gate with a confused looking Jiraiya waiting for her.

"What's with the rush? Shizune interrupted my research and told me to meet you here and that it was urgent. Care to elaborate?" Tsunade developed a rather nasty looking facial tick but managed to refrain from pounding her former teammate into the dirt. Taking a breath, she explained the situation.

"I just got a scroll from Shikamaru. Apparently the mission his team was sent out on turned out to be a trap, and our possible informant turned out to be one of Orochimaru's subordinates. It said that Orochimaru took Hinata captive and separated all of the team members save for Gohan, who he attacked and is now suffering extreme pain and a high fever." Jiraiya's face turned grim.

"But those are..." Tsunade nodded.

"The very same symptoms Sasuke was reported as having when he received the cursed seal." Jiraiya cursed.

"We'll have to prepare for anything then. When Sasuke got his cursed seal, it was around the same time that Orochimaru attacked the village." Tsunade nodded gravely.

"I've had Shizune order all Chunin and above ninja to be on high alert for suspicious activity. If he is planning something in the village, we'll find it before he even thinks about trying it. Also, we're going to have to keep this under wraps. If the village found out that he's on the move again it could destroy morale and possibly leave us vulnerable to attack." Jiraiya nodded and they both took off at top speed toward the valley of the end.

Well, after a little more than two months here it is. I know this chapter isn't quite as long as some of my others but this just seemed like a good spot to leave off. As always, please let me know what you think.

Also, for those of you who actually like this story, I would recommend reading Gohan's dilemma by WingedFreedom622. Gohan's dilemma is another DBZ/Naruto x-over that is leauges better than mine. Anyways, I've got another chapter to write, so see you then!


	14. Chapter 14

Shikamaru sighed in exasperation at the two figures in front of him.

'Could this day get any more troublesome?' He thought to himself.

"Well? What is it you want? We've got an injured comrade and we need to get him home for treatment." He thought back on the rather annoying events that had lead them to this situation.

Flashback

_It didn't take long for the group of Genin to get moving once they'd met up with Hinata and Gohan, though they stopped for a short time so Hinata could wet some rags in the lake to try and keep Gohan's fever at bay. After she was done with that they stopped briefly at their camp to gather their belongings and headed back towards Konoha at top speed, deciding that Gohan's condition was severe enough to warrant a bit of reckless speed. This would've been much easier had Naruto not been antagonizing Sasuke the entire time. Not that the Uchiha seemed too inclined to make him stop, but the whole situation just made Shikamaru wish he were back in Konoha watching clouds with Chouji. It also didn't help that the group could all but feel Orochimaru following their every move which led to a lot of tension as they waited for an attack. Of course, they knew that if the snake Sannin had wanted them dead they wouldn't be there now, but just the idea of being watched by the freak would be enough to make any sane person tense up. They traveled in relative silence, save for Naruto's occasional grumbles and Sasuke's barbing retorts, until about thirty-five minutes into their journey when Shikamaru felt two more sets of eyes on them and signaled to the others to be on alert. They were left alone for another five minutes until two odd looking men seemingly dropped out of the sky directly in their path, leaving Shikamaru to wonder what deity had decided to make his life miserable._

End Flashback

Shikamaru eyed the two in front of him warily, though he tried not to stare at their odd coloring too much. The genin all tensed when the taller one took a step forward.

"Calm down, we're not here to fight. We just want to help Gohan." Shikamaru narrowed his eyes and pulled out a kunai.

"How do we know you're not working for Orochimaru?" The green men before him took on looks of confusion and the younger one followed the elder's example and took a step forward.

"I'm a healer. Piccolo-san here sensed Gohan's pain so we came to investigate." Piccolo just grunted at the young Guardian's understatement. He'd been helping Dende watch over the Earth when the mental shockwave from Gohan's intense pain slammed into Piccolo like a brick wall and nearly knocked him unconscious straight away. It was only through sheer force of will that he hadn't fallen right over the edge of the lookout, possibly to meet his untimely demise on contact with the unforgiving ground hundreds of miles below. Of course, he had immediately realized that Gohan was the source and in his hurry roughly grabbed Dende and rushed off to find Gohan a.s.a.p, though it took a while to find him due to his weakened energy signal. Shikamaru eased up a little. It didn't seem like those two were lying, so he motioned for the others to lower whatever weapons they may have pulled. Of course, that didn't mean he fully trusted the two either, especially after what Kimimaro had pulled. They would watch these two very closely indeed.

"Alright, we'll let you look at him, but if you try anything funny we won't hesitate to attack you. Also, be aware that there is probably help on the way from Konoha as we speak." Piccolo nodded and he and Dende cautiously approached the comatose Gohan and though surprised at Naruto's clones requested that he be put on the ground. The clones nodded and backed away hesitantly, ready for any sudden moves against Naruto's newest friend. Dende knelt down next to Gohan's prone form and spread his palms out over Gohan's body, moving them about to scan for whatever was ailing the young Saiya-jin half breed. Beads of sweat appeared on Dende's forehead as he tried to heal Gohan, though it seemed to have no effect. When five minutes passed and Dende began breathing heavily, Piccolo put his hands on the young Namek's shoulder for support.

"Can you tell what's wrong with him?" Dende let out a breath and slouched forward, having halted his attempt at healing.

"I...I can't help him Piccolo-san. Whatever is hurting him isn't a physical problem. It looks like it's just affecting his energy." He looked down at Gohan with worry and Piccolo grunted in frustration. If Dende couldn't fix it then neither could a senzu bean, which meant he'd have to get better on his own.

"Damn it kid, how do you keep getting yourself into these situations? I know you're stronger than this, so what is it you've been doing this whole time?" He turned his attention to the others.

"You may continue on your way, but we will accompany you to make sure nothing goes wrong." Shikamaru nodded.

"That's fine, but troublesome as it is we should probably get to know who we'll be traveling with. I'm Nara Shikamaru and this is Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata." Piccolo nodded and Dende gave a polite bow.

"My name's Dende and you already know who Piccolo-san is." Everyone nodded or bowed politely in Hinata's case and Naruto's clones went to pick Gohan back up but Piccolo insisted that he carry the boy, so to Piccolo and Dende's surprise the clones disappeared in identical puffs of smoke. Piccolo made it a point to study Naruto closely as the genin got back into formation and they resumed their trek to Konoha.

'At first I had thought that technique was similar to the multi-form technique, which would be surprising enough that this boy would know, but that...what kind of technique was that? They were clearly solid enough to carry Gohan, and yet the way they disappeared is like they were never there to begin with. If this is any indication of what these people can do, then this bears investigation on our part.' They continued on in Silence, as even Naruto could think of nothing to say to their new acquaintances, so everyone pretty much stuck to his or her own thoughts. Finally after about another hour of traveling Hinata caught sight of Tsunade and Jiraiya about a mile out using her Byakugan. The two Sannin quickly caught up with the group and were clearly wary of Piccolo and Dende. While the two found Piccolo and Dende's skin color to be odd, they took the situation quite seriously.

"Just what are your intentions for my shinobi? I won't let you live if you pose a threat to Gohan or any of the others here." Piccolo barely resisted the urge to grunt in annoyance. The suspicion these people have been displaying was starting to get on his nerves, logical or otherwise.

"You don't have to worry about us. Dende here is Gohan's friend and a healer, and I'm the one who taught him how to fight."

"Well, could you put the brat down? Jiriaya and I need to take a look at him. We've been informed that he's been attacked and we'd like to confirm something." Piccolo nodded and gently laid Gohan on the ground and took a step back to allow Jiraiya and Tsunade room to look at him. Jiraiya tilted Gohan's head to the side to take a look at his neck. His face turned grim at what he saw.

"I'm afraid it's just what you suspected Tsunade. It's the cursed seal after all. Damn that Orochimaru! Why does he keep going after these kids?! Hasn't he ruined enough lives?" Tsunade simply shook her head sadly and knelt down next to Gohan and ran a diagnostic medical jutsu on him. Tsunade looked up though when Piccolo cleared his throat.

"Alright, time for some answers. Who is this Orochimaru and just what is this cursed seal you're talking about?" Tsunade gestured to Jiraiya, signaling for him to explain while she checked on Gohan's condition to see if there was anything she could do to help him. Jiraiya gave Piccolo a funny look, trying to see if he was serious. When he saw no hint of deception or humor in the Namek's eyes he began to explain.

"So you don't know who Orochimaru is eh? That's kind of odd since we Sannin are well known throughout the elemental countries."

"We're not from around here, so you'll have to excuse our ignorance." Jiraiya nodded, accepting his answer.

"Well, me, Tsunade here and Orochimaru were on the same team when we were still training to be ninja, with Sarutobi-sensei overseeing us. Orochimaru was considered the genius of the team, always having the easiest time picking up new techniques and coming up with the best strategies. Heck, Sarutobi-sensei even favored the bastard, though he didn't really neglect us for it. The thing is though, eventually he started to change, slowly but surely turning inwards and becoming less and less friendly and more and more obsessed with his ambition to learn every ninjutsu technique under the sun." Piccolo wasn't really sure what ninjutsu was, but the meaning was clear enough, so he let Jiraiya continue.

"One day, a couple of civilians disappeared without a trace. At first it was thought to be bandits or maybe missing nin, but as time went on more civilians and even ninja began disappearing so naturally Sarutobi-sensei, who was also leader of the village began an investigation into the disappearances and eventually tracked it to a base hidden in the village sewers. Sensei took some of our ninja and stormed the base, finding the culprit to be none other than our teammate, who had been using the ninja and civilians in twisted and inhuman experiments. Sensei confronted Orochimaru, but couldn't bring himself to kill him and so Orochimaru fled the village and continued his experiments elsewhere. Before he'd been caught, Orochimaru had taken on an apprentice who came to see him as a father figure. The day he left, he put a strange experimental seal on her and left her for dead. Even after much studying, we still haven't figured out how the seal works or how to get rid of it, but we do know some of the side effects and risks." He and Tsunade, who'd finished her diagnostic jutsu, exchanged a sad look.

"What the seal does is it somehow forces out more of the victim's power and makes it available to them for use, but at the cost of a near out of control bloodlust whenever the seal is active and a slow but sure corruption of the victim's mind, turning them into nothing more than a bloodthirsty machine, though Orochimaru seems to have some type of antidote to prevent the mind degradation. However, the biggest downfal is that there is only a ten percent chance of survival for anyone afflicted with the seal, thus making it very likely that Gohan here could die." Piccolo scowled at hearing this.

"Is there anything at all that you can do to help his chances? Gohan is much too important to just allow to die like that." Tsunade nodded and pulled off the backpack she'd packed her medical supplies in, and after rummaging around for a moment pulled out a thermos of water and a small case of pills. She opened it up and pulled out a plain red pill, then proceeded to open Gohan's mouth, prop his head up, give him some of the water and drop the pill in his mouth. She then massaged his throat in order to make him swallow, after which she gave him the rest of the water in the thermos before putting it and the pill case back into her backpack. After that she once again went through the contents of the pack and pulled out another case, this one larger than the last. When she opened this case though, she suddenly found Piccolo's hand grasping her own.

"What are you trying to give him?" Tsunade's first instinct was to retaliate, but she realized that Piccolo was just looking out for Gohan's best interests so she calmed down.

"There really isn't much I can do to help him except for treat some of his symptoms. The pill I gave him should bring his fever down and this liquid will act as a pain killer and allow him to get a peaceful rest. Also, he'll be needing plenty of water since it seems that he's slightly dehydrated thanks to the fever." Piccolo backed off but still looked tense so Jiraiya did his best to assuage his fears.

"Don't worry about it Piccolo. Tsunade here is the most well renowned medical expert in the elemental countries. If anybody can help Gohan it'll be her." Piccolo didn't really acknowledge what Jiraiya said, but it said enough that he relaxed. Now that she could continue Tsunade pulled a hypodermic needle out of the case as well as a bottle of some unknown liquid. She inserted the needle into the bottle and filled it up before closing the bottle back up and squirting a little of the liquid to make sure there were no air bubbles in the needle. After that she found a vein on his arm and jabbed the needle in to deposit its contents into his blood stream. She then cleaned up and bandaged the puncture wound and put her things away. She then turned and gave Piccolo a serious look.

"Gohan has told me who he is and what he does. He is a very brave young man and I won't just let him die." The genin all picked up on this statement, even if one of them did try to hide it behind an uncaring attitude. Tsunade focused her attention on this genin.

"I will only say this once Shikamaru. If you happen to figure out any information about Gohan it is considered to be an S class village secret, so you'd better not say anything to anybody without mine or Gohan's approval. Got it?" Shikamaru nodded stiffly and she smiled. She knew she didn't have to say anything to the others, since they should've gotten the hint easily enough, she just singled Shikamaru out because he'd be the most likely to figure things out on his own. Tsunade ordered everyone to move out and so they set off for Konoha at top speed, but nobody noticed Sasuke silently brooding to himself.

'What is it with these losers and their secrets? First Naruto and now Gohan? What could possibly be so special about these guys that's so important?' He made a silent vow to himself to find out, and was startled out of his stupor when he realized they'd reached the gate. Once they'd made it back into the village, Tsunade allowed the Genin to go their separate ways and took Gohan to the hospital with Dende, Piccolo, Jiraiya, Naruto and Hinata in tow. Once they got to the hospital, Tsunade gave Naruto a stern look.

"This is a hospital Naruto. While you are here you will be quiet, do you understand? Good. Also, you will not be allowed into Gohan's room right now. His condition could turn south at any moment and we need to keep his room as clear as possible." Naruto started to complain but Tsunade cut him off.

"This is for Gohan's safety Naruto, please try to understand." Naruto grudgingly nodded that he understood, and followed the others to where Gohan was going to be staying until he got better, and found himself a seat outside the door. If Baa-chan wasn't going to let him in, then he'd just sit here till he could make sure Gohan was going to be okay. He was surprised though when Dende opted to stay out of the room and take a seat between him and Hinata when the others went in.

"Aren't you gonna go in with them? I know I'd be in there if I could." Dende just shook his head.

"I'd just get in the way. Besides, it didn't seem fair that you guys should have to wait out here by yourselves." Naruto and Hinata both gave him appreciative looks, though the worry in their gazes was all too apparent.

"Don't worry, Gohan will be fine. He's gotten out of much tougher situations than this." Dende was glad when they relaxed a bit, though he'd said that just as much to himself as to them. To be honest, none of Earth's defenders had been in a situation like this. All of the threats they'd had to face had been a person or people, easily identifiable and easily or not so easily fought against. This...cursed seal however was more like a sickness. It, like the heart virus that had almost taken Goku's life, could not be fought against in such a manner. Rather, it left him feeling helpless since there was nothing he could do but hope his friend would survive. Dende cut that train of thought off where it was, resolving not to dwell on it too much lest he bring Naruto and Hinata back down with him.

"Ano, Dende-san, h...how did you meet G...Gohan-kun?"

"Well Hinata-san, It's because of Gohan that I'm even alive today." Dende knew he had Hinata and Naruto's full attention when they both stared at him with wide eyes.

"You see, my people are the protectors of a very powerful treasure called the dragonballs. One day, a tyrant with unbelievable strength came to my people and demanded that we hand the treasure over to him, but when we wouldn't he started killing us off one village at a time. When he came to my village he killed all but myself, a friend of mine and our village elder. The elder told us to run away but before we could get anywhere the tyrant killed my friend and the elder. Just when the tyrant was about to kill me Gohan jumped in and caused enough of a distraction that he and his friend Krillin were able to get me to safety. In the end, Gohan helped his father save my people from the tyrant and for that, he and his father are considered heroes by my people."

"Th...that's a...amazing Dende-san."

"Hell yeah! We're gonna have to get Gohan to tell us more about himself when he wakes up!" Naruto was answered with a bop on the head. None of them had even noticed Tsunade, Jiraiya and Piccolo leave Gohan's room.

"Quiet brat, there's sick and injured people trying to sleep in here." Naruto glared at Jiraiya for the insult, but kept his peace knowing that the super pervert was right.

"Piccolo-san, is there anything we can do to help Gohan's condition?" Piccolo shook his head at Dende and gestured to Jiraiya to explain.

"No. At least, not right now. Once Gohan wakes up and is no longer in danger I'm going to seal it with Fuuja Hoin (Evil Sealing Method). This will keep the seal from acting up, though it will depend on his willpower to do so." This relieved Dende and the two Genin and it showed when they visibly relaxed in their seats. Piccolo motioned Dende over to him.

"Come on Dende, time to get you back. As soon as I get you to the lookout I'm coming back here to keep an eye on Gohan."

"That won't be necessary, I already intend to have him under twenty-four hour surveillance anyways." Tsunade then made a hand signal and four anbu appeared in a swirl of leaves and bowed to Tsunade.

"What is it that you require Hokage-sama?"

"I want this room to be watched at all times. Nobody but me, Shizune, Jiraiya and Kakashi are to be allowed in this room. Understood?" The four anbu bowed and disappeared into the shadows. Piccolo narrwed his eyes and shot Tsunade a glance that told her he still didn't trust her completely.

"I'm still going to wait right outside this door for him to wake up. I've got a few things to say to him anyways." Tsunade just sighed and relented to his demand, not really in the mood to argue, though he'd have to deal with the hospital staff himself. She had more important things to worry about, such as paperwork and sake, though not necessarily in that order. Piccolo gave Tsunade and Jiraiya one last glare before turning with a swish of his cape and all but dragging Dende out of the hospital.

"Jiraiya, I want you to keep an eye out for Kakashi and make sure he comes straight to my office when he gets back from his mission. He'll want to know of this as well." Jiraiya nodded his understanding to his former teammate and left after shooing Naruto and Hinata out, promising them that Gohan would be fine.

"And just what is it that I need to be informed of?" Tsunade was startled to see a nonchalant Kakashi leaning against the opposite side of the hall. How had she not noticed him standing there?

"How long have you been there Kakashi?" She twitched a bit when Kakashi covered his mouth with his hand as though he were contemplating his answer.

"Hmmm...well...actually, I just got here. Hey, you might want to get that twitch looked at, it might cause wrinkles." Tsunade was desperately trying to keep her temper in check. Now was not the time to beat up annoying jounin. Now she wanted her sake more than ever, but forced herself to calm down.

"Orochimaru has struck again." At these words Kakashi narrowed his gaze and pushed off the wall, giving his Hokage his undivided attention.

"What happened?"

"While you were out on your mission we received a distress signal that was supposedly someone who escaped from one of Orochimaru's labs and wished to share information with us in exchange for protection. I assigned Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata and Gohan to rendezvous with the escapee and escort them to Konoha. They met up with the informant, but it turned out to be a trap and the team was separated and Hinata taken hostage. Apparently Gohan fought with Orochimaru and managed to free Hinata, but as a result ended up getting marked with the cursed seal." Kakashi's eyes visibly widened behind his mask, but he was quickly able to compose himself.

"I can understand why you would send a Hyuuga on such a mission, but why Hinata instead of Neji? With his superior skills with the Byakugan wouldn't he have been a better choice?"

"I would have, but team Gai had already been assigned another mission that required the use of the Byakugan."

"It isn't like Orochimaru to go out of his way like that. What could he be thinking?" Tsunade just shook her head.

"That's what we're trying to figure out. As it is I've got Gohan under twenty-four hour surveillance, plus a strange green colored man going by the name of Piccolo showed up and followed us back to Konoha claiming to be looking out for Gohan's best interests."

"Hm, green you say? Did he happen to be wearing a cape and turban with a purple gi and red sash?" Tsunade cocked her head to the side.

"That would be him. Have you met him before?"

"Yeah. Gohan and Sasuke had an...altercation before Naruto and Jiraiya brought you back to the village and that same man appeared and took Gohan to heal his injuries."

"Well, maybe we can trust him then. I'm still putting him under watch while he's in the village though, just in case. Anyways, I've got things to do and I'm sure you do as well, so let's get to my office so you can give me your report." Kakashi nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves, and Tsunade already knew she was going to be waiting a while. She headed back into Gohan's room for one last look and just stood there for several moments, watching him sleep and listening to the heart monitor as it measured his heart rate.

"Just how many more headaches are you going to bring me Son Gohan? At least watching you will be interesting." She left the room and quietly closed the door behind her, having no idea just how interesting things were going to get.

_He stood before his best friend, trying one more time to get him to change his mind. He had his orders. Kill all of them. None should remain except for himself. He did not show his friend just how desperate he was, as that could tip him off that he was going to stop this regardless, but it seemed that things wouldn't go his way, as usual._

"_You know this is folly. There is no way such a coup could succeed." His closest friend only laughed at him._

"_What are you afraid of? Your father's been planning this for years and you just now are saying something? Don't worry, our plan is perfect. There's no way we're going to just sit by while the council and the Hokage slowly weaken us." He resisted the urge to snort. Such displays were beneath __him, after all._

"_My father is a power hungry fool who follows the ideals of a dead man. How is that in the best interest of the clan?" His friend stared at him in confusion and worry._

"_Are you alright man? I know you've been acting differently lately and all, but something like this is completely unlike you. I've never seen you openly oppose your father like this." He ignored his friend's concern._

"_So you won't change your mind then?"_

"_Of course not. This is for the glory of..." He never got to finish his sentence as his throat was suddenly split open and he found himself leaning on his supposed friend for support. He felt himself being gently put on the ground and was now looking up in betrayal. He struggled to get words out, to ask his friend why he would do this, but as he slowly bled to death he could only manage one word._

"_Itachi..." Itachi could hear the questions in his dying best friend's voice, so he figured he'd humor him, to honor his last request._

"_Because this clan is no longer worthy of its own existence. It has become corrupt with power and will consume all in its path. This is my mission, assigned to me by my Hokage, that I should stop this coup however possible. I see now that there is but one option, the total annihilation of the Uchiha clan. You were my last hope, Shisui, and you failed me. You are weak." Thus Uchiha Itachi watched dispassionately as his best friend, Uchiha Shisui breathed his last. Just this once, he allowed his emotions out and tears trickled down his face, but something was wrong. There was the familiar pain in his chest, the guilt that he'd ended the life of another, but this time it was worse, oh so much worse. Then, out of nowhere his eyes were consumed with a burning agony and his hands instinctively shot up to clutch at the wounds and he began stumbling about, barely containing the cries of pain and anguish that threatened to consume him. He could feel blood leaking out of his eyes and pooling in his hands, though some of it trailed down his face where it dripped off his chin and fell to the ground. Itachi tripped and fell, allowing the pain to overwhelm him and steal his consciousness. He woke up hours later, wondering where he was until memories of what he'd done returned to him. He did not cry this time, only stood up and quickly disposed of the body and the blood. Thankfully he was nearby a lake so he could check out what had happened to his eyes. He made his way over to the lake and looked at his reflection and was slightly surprised by what he saw. Not that he didn't expect it of course, but the knowledge of it and the sight of it were two completely different things. The dried trails of blood running down his cheeks were completely expected of course, but what caught him off guard was the reflection of his own eyes staring back at him._

"_Mangekyou..." And the world faded to black._

_Even with help from Uchiha Madara, it hadn't been easy to wipe out the rest of the clan. But, there was still one left. As night fell, Itachi could sense his brother's chakra signature approaching the Uchiha estate, so he leapt up onto a telephone pole near the estate's entrance to watch his brother make his way towards home. Sasuke looked up and saw him, so Itachi activated his Sharingan and cast a small temporary genjutsu on him, giving himself time to escape. He followed from the shadows as his little brother made his way through the streets in an ever increasing panic. Once he came across the first two bodies, the panic became too much and Sasuke ran towards his family's home as fast as he could, but even his own home was eerily dark for this time of day._

"_Father? Mother?" There was a sudden noise coming from his parents' room so he quickly made his way there, hoping against hope that his parents were just hiding from whoever or whatever had killed his aunt and uncle. He stopped at the door and made to open it but hesitated._

"_S...someone's in there." He slowly reached his hand forward and gave the double doors a gentle push, but winced when they made a loud creaking._

"_F...Father? M...Mother?" Itachi observed from the shadows at the back of the room as Sasuke slowly and quietly walked over to two motionless forms on the floor. Sasuke's eyes widened in horror as he recognized the corpses as his own parents. It was then that Itachi stepped from the shadows, though his face remained hidden and Sasuke whimpered and took several steps back until he had his back up against the wall. Itachi took another step forward, revealing himself in the pale moonlight that shone through the window to his left. His Sharingan was activated._

"_Brother! Father and Mother, they...why? How? Who did this?" A shuriken was suddenly embedded in the wall behind him, and Sasuke's hand shot up to clutch at the small cut the throwing star had made in his shoulder._

"_Brother, what are...what are you doing?" Itachi's heart tore at the look of betrayal in his little brother's eyes, but reminded himself that this had to be done._

"_Foolish little brother." Sasuke was looking into Itachi's eyes, frantically searching for any sign that this was all some sort of sick joke, but it proved to be his undoing when Itachi activated his Mangekyou Sharingan and he suddenly found himself outside, though the colors had somehow been inverted. He screamed as he was forced to watch his brother slaughtering his clan over and over again._

"_Brother stop! Don't show me this! Why? Why did you...?" He screamed again and collapsed to the floor, Itachi's genjutsu having taken its toll on him. Itachi reverted his eyes back to normal._

"_Why?" Itachi forced himself not to show any weakness. Sasuke could not catch any hint of doubt or regret._

"_To measure my capacity." Sasuke rolled so that he was lying on his stomach and braced himself with his arms._

"_To...measure your capacity? That's it? For something like that you...?" Itachi closed his eyes. His brother couldn't be allowed to see the tears that threatened to spill forth, and the next words he spoke were just as much to convince himself as they were to further mess with sasuke's emotions._

"_It was necessary."_

"_Don't screw with me!" Sasuke leaped to his feet and rushed head first at Itachi, only to wind up with a fist buried in his gut. He fell to the floor groaning, and lay there awaiting his fate as tears streamed down his face. It only lasted until he looked up into Itachi's eyes and his senses returned to him._

"_I'm scared!" He scrambled backwards before getting to his feet and hurrying out the door, Itachi __looking on with growing despair, though outwardly his face betrayed nothing at all. Sasuke ran through the streets, not caring where he ended up as long as it was away from his treacherous brother and all the bodies that lay strewn about the complex._

"_Don't kill me!" He didn't really expect his brother to hear, or care, but his mind was running in overdrive, his survival instinct overriding any other thoughts. He stopped abruptly when Itachi stepped out of the shadows of a deserted home. They stared at each other for several long moments until Sasuke could no longer take the silence._

"_This has to be a lie! My brother isn't like this!"_

"_I played the role of the older brother you wanted to test your capacity. You will be the one to test my capacity, only you have that potential. You thought I was unpleasant and hated me. You saw yourself in my shadow and sought to surpass me. That's why I'm going to let you live, for my sake. You are also capable of activating the Mangekyou Sharingan, but there is a price for it. You must kill your closest friend, like I have." Sasuke looked on in shock and horror._

"_No way. You mean you...to Shisui-san?"_

"_That's right, and that's what allowed me to awaken these eyes. At the main temple of the Nakano Shrine, underneath the seventh tatami mat on the far right side, is the clan's secret meeting place. There you'll find texts on the history of the Uchiha clan's doujutsu and the reason for its existence. That's where you'll find its real secret. If you can activate it, the number of people who can use the Mangekyou, including me, will be three. If you do that, then there's a good reason to let you live. But at the moment..." Itachi turned so that he was only looking at Sasuke out of his left eye, appearing to look down at him in disgust. "You aren't even worth killing. My foolish little brother, if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and live an unsightly life. Run away, run away and cling to life. And some day, when you have the same eyes as I do, then come before me." He activated his Mangekyou and sasuke collapsed to the ground unconscious. Itachi reverted his eyes to normal and closed them, trying desperately not to scream out his anguish at what he'd had to put his beloved little brother through. He formed a bitter smile._

"_I killed Shisui, and Father and Mother along with the rest of our family, but in the end, I could not kill you little brother. It seems that I have failed my mission, but I'll make sure you're well taken care of." He scooped Sasuke up into his arms and took him back to his room, where he treated his injuries._

"_I'm sorry I couldn't be the older brother you wanted Sasuke, but I'll be the adversary you need. I'll be your drive to get stronger and I'll keep you away from...that man, Uchiha Madara. Then some day, you can kill me and save me from this pitiful existence of mine." He gave Sasuke an affectionate flick to the forehead._

"_I'm sorry Sasuke, but I no longer have time to play with you. Maybe next time." The world faded to black as Itachi disappeared into the shadows._

Gohan awoke with a start and tried to scream, but nothing more than a squeak made its way out of his parched and dry throat. He took a panicked look around thinking that he'd been captured, but to his relief found himself in a hospital room. He spotted a glass of water on the table to his left and gulped it down greedily, the water soothing his tortured mouth and throat. He winced and his hand shot up to the spot where he'd been bitten as the cursed mark pulsed angrily, leaving an unpleasant burning sensation. He noted gratefully that he'd been allowed to keep his armor on, though there were a few tears in the spandex here and there it was still in relatively good condition. Gohan was a bit startled when the door to his room opened without warning and Tsunade walked in followed by Piccolo, Kakashi and Jiraiya.

"It's about time you woke up brat. You gave us quite a scare there." She gave him a friendly smirk, but he could see Piccolo scowl at him. Apparently he had a few words for his former pupil. Kakashi just gave him a lazy wave and an eye smile. Jiraiya was just too busy scribbling down notes from his latest 'research' to really greet the boy. Tsunade walked over to his side and put her hand to his forehead.

"Your fever seems to be gone, though your temperature is still higher than normal. Since you're awake though it must mean that you've got a higher metabolism than normal. Now, could you please tell us what happened? Your friends told us what they've seen and heard, but I'd like to hear your side of the story as well." Gohan nodded and proceeded to tell her what happened after Orochimaru blew the other genin away with his wind technique, of course leaving out certain incriminating parts of their conversations. Tsunade nodded solemnly.

"So we were right, team Gai's mission was fake after all. Orochimaru's been more unpredictable than usual lately, so we'll have to keep an extra eye out. Alright, I'm going to let you out of here now, but you need to go with Jiraiya so he can put a seal over your cursed seal." Gohan's eyes widened abruptly as he suddenly remembered his dreams.

"W...wait! I've got to talk to Sasuke first!" Tsunade furrowed her brow and was about to ask Gohan what he was going on about when the door suddenly burst open and Kotetsu and Izumo rushed in.

"Hokage-sama! We've got a situation!" Tsunade groaned and turned her attention to the two newcomers.

"What is it now? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"While we were performing the errands you assigned us, we came across Haruno Sakura, who was unconscious on a bench near the north gate. We woke her up and she told us that Uchiha Sasuke has..." Kotetsu hesitated to continue, afraid of what Tsunade's reaction would be.

"What? Tell me what happened!" The two Chunin cowered under her fierce gaze, but quickly composed themselves.

"It seems that he's left the village, and was definitely headed towards rice country." Tsunade clenched her fist angrily.

"Damn! Get me Shikamaru, now!" Kotetsu and Izumo nodded and disappeared in dual swirles of leaves. Gohan immediately jumped to his feet and made to fly out the window, but Piccolo cut him off.

"What do you think you're doing Gohan? Jiraiya still has to tend to that mark of yours." Gohan brushed Piccolo aside but suddenly found Kakashi looking in the window at him, Sharingan exposed.

"Wh...wha?" The tomoe in Kakashi's Sharingan swirled around at a quick pace and Gohan suddenly found himself crumpling to the floor, asleep. Kakashi opened the window and made his way back to the room, where he picked Gohan up and handed him over to Jiraiya.

"I've put him under a minor genjutsu. Once you get him to wherever you're going it should be easy enough to wake him should the need arise. Jiraiya nodded and took the boy off to take care of his cursed seal.

"You know," Kakashi spoke up once Jiraiya was gone. "from what I've been told Sasuke's seal activated immediately when he woke up from the effects of its initial application. I wonder why it was different in Gohan's case. It's almost like he was ready for it..." Piccolo didn't really like what the jounin was saying, but didn't argue as he had similar suspicions. Rather, he was quite certain that Gohan receiving the cursed mark was no accident. Once his student's seal had been taken care of, he had some explaining to do. Tsunade however, didn't take Kakashi's implication quite so stoically.

"That's a pretty serious accusation there Kakashi. It could after all be that each person's body would react differently to the seal." Kakashi held his hands up defensively at Tsunade's narrowed gaze.

"Now now, I'm just throwing it out there as a possibility. You have to admit though, that the circumstances surrounding Gohan's mark are a bit suspicious. For instance, why would Orochimaru bother to separate the genin before marking Gohan? When he marked Sasuke he simply disabled Sakura and Naruto, albeit Naruto was left unconscious. Even so, he went through a lot of trouble to get Gohan alone." Tsunade nodded, indicating she understood Kakashi's logic.

"That's true, but the timing with Sasuke is just too convenient. It could be that he only marked Gohan so that we would put all of our attention on him and only throw out a minimum effort to return Sasuke, leaving it much easier for Orochimaru to acquire him." She turned her gaze to Piccolo.

"What do you think? You're close to Gohan aren't you?" Piccolo gave an indifferent shrug.

"I'm not too sure. There really aren't enough facts to make anything more than vague assumptions at this point. That's why I intend to question him once his seal's been taken care of. I'll get some answers out of that boy even if I have to beat them out of him." He gave them a feral grin, revealing his sharp canines. The two powerful shinobi felt shivers run down their spines. This guy sure could be intimidating when he wanted to be. Kakashi definitely approved though.

"That's probably our best bet. He knows you better anyways so he'll probably be more open with you." Just then there was a knock at the door.

"Enter." Came Tsunade's firm command. Hopefully this was Shikamaru so she could send him out to retrieve Sasuke. The door opened and in walked her laziest Chunin. He glanced at Piccolo warily but kept his focus on Tsunade.

"You wanted to see me?" Tsunade cut straight to the chase, there was no time for formalities in this situation.

"I have a mission for you. I've just been told that Uchiha Sasuke has fled the village, and from what Sakura says, he's definitely heading for Rice Country and Orochimaru." Shikamaru's eyes widened at this.

"What could Orochimaru want with a guy like that?"

"It doesn't matter at this point. All that matters is getting him back here as quickly as possible." Shikamaru sighed. This would be troublesome, but hopefully there wouldn't be any enemies to get in the way.

"Also, there is a high chance that he is being guided by Orochimaru's subordinates, so expect a lot of trouble." Shikamaru just groaned.

"Fine. I'll need a team of four Jounin and Chunin." Tsunade looked away in embarrassment.

"Unfortunately, I won't be able to give you that. Aside from the Jounin that need to stay, most of them are out on missions at the moment. The only one I have to spare right now is Kakashi. Other than him, you'll have to take the most skilled genin you can find. I'll give you thirty minutes to do this. Am I clear?" By now she'd returned to giving him her patented serious glare, so he really didn't feel like arguing the point seeing as he might end up going through a wall or two. He briefly wondered why women thought they had to be so troublesome all the time.

"Alright, fine." He turned to head out and find some teammates, but Tsunade called to him, so he turned his head to see her out of the corner of his eye.

"One more thing. I'd suggest taking Naruto with you. He's closer to Sasuke than just about anyone else and would be most likely to convince him to return." Shikamaru just nodded and continued on his way, Kakashi following closely behind. As Piccolo wandered off to try and find Gohan and Jiraiya, Tsunade's thoughts took a dark turn when she remembered Orochimaru's words to her the last time they'd met.

Flashback

_Orochimaru licked his lips in anticipation as he glared at Tsunade._

"_You'll regret not healing my arms Tsunade. Just remember, when you least expect it I'll make my move and next time, I'll destroy Konoha for sure." Orochimaru began sinking into the ground and Jiraiya rushed at him, hoping to knock him out of his technique, but he was a moment too late and Orochimaru was already gone._

End Flashback

'You guys had better bring Sasuke back. If Orochimaru takes Sasuke's body and gains the sharingan, it could very well mean the end of Konoha.'

Well, that wraps it up for this chapter. Yes, I know that Shisui was actually drowned by Itachi, but that seems way too unItachi-like for my tastes, so I spiced it up a bit. I mean come on, Itachi is pretty much the definition of awesome and drowning someone is...well...not awesome. Also, I know it's kinda boring, but I did copy some scenes almost directly from canon. Anyone with a good memory or access to the episodes will know which ones I'm talking about.

Anyways, I know this chapter came out pretty quick and I'll try to get the next one out quickly as well, but I'm not making any promises. But at the very least, you'll get to see Piccolo interrogate Gohan and figure out why exactly he would do something so stupid as to trust Orochimaru. Just thought I'd throw that little tidbit in there for ya. Anyways, don't forget to R&R.


	15. Chapter 15

Jiraiya cursed Orochimaru for perhaps the hundredth time as he continued to paint the seals on the floor and Gohan's body. This technique is not only time consuming, but all of the seals, numbering in the hundreds, must be written in the sealer's blood, and so he'd had to make a significant cut in his palm in order to get enough blood.

"Why'd you have to go and invent such a troublesome technique Hebi-teme?" Many methods had been tried on Anko's cursed seal to try and suppress it, but unfortunately this was the only method that seemed to work. The problems with it being that first off, the Fuuja Houin was an extremely complicated technique, meaning it took no less than two hours to complete. Of course, let's not forget that even though this was the only way to inhibit the cursed seal, the results were less than excellent. Of course, it kept the seal under control and didn't allow it to act out randomly and inhibit the host, but it relied on the will of the host to be effective. In other words, if said host felt that they couldn't handle a situation, they could still draw on the seal, either consciously or not. The problem with this of course being that the power that the seal brought out could inhibit a person's thought processes, effectively leaving them drunk with power. This added to the mind corruption did not make for a very good combination. Thankfully though, if Sasuke were any example to go by the seal only affected one's mind so long as they were drawing on its power, while conversely if one left the seal activated too long they could lose their mind to the seal completely and become its slave. As he painted the seals, a dark voice broke out of the darkness of the warehouse he'd brought Gohan to.

"How much longer is this going to take? I've got a few things to say to the boy when he wakes up." Jiraiya just snorted at Piccolo's impatience.

"This technique takes about two hours to complete, so if you're just going to stand around here and wait you might as well sit down and relax." The toad Sannin said no more as he returned his attention to the task at hand. The art of Fuuinjutsu (Sealing techniques) was very delicate and one could not afford any errors, lest they wish for unpredictable and potentially fatal consequences. Piccolo was a bit irritated at being told what to do, but saw the logic in the man's words and so sat down to meditate. Of course, that didn't mean he wasn't going to get his own barb in.

"Fine then, wake me when you're done." Jiraiya seriously wanted to glare at Piccolo, but couldn't because of what he was doing. If the situation weren't so serious, he would've considered giving Piccolo his famous, or rather, infamous introduction dance. He grinned to himself.

'I'll show him later. Then he'll realize how great I am!'

Two hours later, with the seals finally complete, he formed his hands through a string of about ten hand signs and struck his palm over Gohan's cursed seal.

"Fuuja Houin!"

Gohan groaned at the contact as the Fuuja Hoin was more than a little painful, but fortunately for him being asleep meant he hadn't felt the full brunt of the seal's force on his shoulder. The seals on and around Gohan's body glowed an eerie crimson color and began twisting around and moving up his body to come together around the cursed seal, almost as though they were alive. As the last of the seals fused together, they formed a jagged looking circle around the three tomoe, signifying that the sealing had been a success. Jiraiya moved to kick Piccolo in order to wake him from his meditative state, but it turned out to be unnecessary as the strange green man was already up on his feet and taking a look at Gohan's seal.

"So that's it?" Piccolo looked the thing over, and it didn't look very impressive, so he wanted to be sure that it would keep the other seal in check. Jiraiya nodded before giving Gohan a light slap, rousing the boy from his slumber.

"Good. I'll be needing some privacy with him now. I'm going to be getting some answers out of him." Jiraiya said nothing as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving Piccolo and Gohan by themselves. He had research to catch up on, after all. Before Gohan even had the chance to fully realize his surroundings and the situation he was in, Piccolo had grabbed him rather roughly by the shoulders and hauled him to his feet. Gohan had been about to say something but Piccolo cut him off sharply.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Gohan gaped at Piccolo like a beached fish, his mouth opening and closing as though he wanted to say something but couldn't quite get the words out. It had been quite a few years since Piccolo had spoken to him harshly like this and he wasn't prepared for it in the least.

"You and I both know full well that you're more than strong enough to beat back anybody on this planet, and yet you somehow managed to get yourself marked like that! Do you have any idea at all as to what that thing on your shoulder does?!" Gohan forced down his innate fear of his sensei and forced himself to stand his ground, though it took most of his willpower to do so.

"It'll make me stronger." He looked Piccolo straight in the eyes, slightly surprising the older man but not causing him to hesitate.

"That's it? You did this for power?! Your father and I trained you better than that!" The disappointed look on Piccolo's face made Gohan cringe inwardly, but he still felt that he'd done what he had to do, and he intended to stick by his decision.

"I won't let what happened at the Cell games happen again Piccolo! I'm not going to be caught unprepared next time someone comes around threatening to destroy Earth. I'll protect everyone, no matter the cost to myself! Nobody else will die because of me, I won't let that happen again!" By this time his young face had twisted into a horrible grimace of anguish and rage, and Piccolo was completely taken aback by the passion in his words.

'Goku, what have we done to your son?' He sighed and relaxed a bit.

"You know kid, with as smart and powerful you are it's easy to forget that you're just that, a kid. I suppose Goku and I are to blame for this, making you fight so much when you were younger and putting so much weight on your shoulders." He gave Gohan a hard stare.

"That still doesn't excuse such reckless behavior. You're smarter than that Gohan, and you should've known better than to just blindly trust someone like that. I'm going to be keeping a closer eye on you from now on to make sure you don't pull any more stupid stunts like that." Piccolo could see that Gohan wanted to protest, but the young half Saiya-jin settled for lowering his head in meek acceptance, earning him an affectionate ruffle of hair from the older Namek. Of course, that didn't mean that Gohan didn't have plans of his own, but for now he had more pressing matters to attend to.

"I've got to go now Piccolo-sensei. I've got to stop Sasuke from leaving." He looked to Piccolo for approval, and got it in the form of a nod, though he could tell that Piccolo intended to follow him.

Once they'd found their way back outside, Piccolo and Gohan wasted no time in taking flight at top speed with Gohan leading Piccolo to where he had a sneaking suspicion that Sasuke and Naruto were most likely fighting. As they neared their destination, Piccolo was surprised when out of the blue Gohan stopped and simply hovered in place, allowing his mentor to catch up to him.

"Can....can you feel that?" Gohan's tense posture and worried tone of voice caused Piccolo to pause momentarily and focus his senses on the area around him. Piccolo visibly reeled when he focused on what he'd originally passed off as simple apprehension of a possible fight.

"What.....what is this? I sense two powers, one is tainted with evil but the other....." Piccolo couldn't even begin to describe the second power. He broke out in a cold sweat as feelings of dread and foreboding washed over him like an ocean tide and threatened to overwhelm him. Gohan turned to Piccolo, his face a ghostly white color.

"This power....it's so old.....so angry......it makes Cell and Frieza seem like boy scouts in comparison." Indeed, the two fighters could feel the ancient evil radiating from their destination like a beacon. A bloodlust so intense it made them both sick permeated the air and seemed to sink into the very marrow of their bones, and they just knew that this is where they must go. With a shiver, both fighters continued their flight towards where so much vile energy was originating, hoping against hope that they wouldn't have to fight whatever was generating such a disgusting power. Gohan wasn't too surprised when their senses led them to the valley of the end, where they landed on the head of the long haired Uchiha Madara. Gohan was absolutely astonished when he looked down and saw two familiar figures facing off in the middle of the lake.

"N....Naruto? That horrible power is coming from Naruto? That can't be! It feels nothing like him!" He turned to Piccolo to see that his mentor was also watching the blond shinobi intently. He turned his attention back to the blond genin and his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when he took in Naruto's appearance.

"He's gone through some kind of transformation." Gohan spoke so quietly that even Piccolo almost didn't pick up on what he'd said. Piccolo took on a grim look as he studied the strange blond kid. Naruto had taken on a more animalistic look. His hair had become spikier than normal, giving it a wild and untamed look while his nails had grown several inches and sharpened to claw-like points. This added on top of his now more defined whisker marks and elongated canines gave him enough of a predator look, but what truly completed the look were his eyes. Piccolo had never seen such terrible eyes before. They were a deep crimson red with a black slitted pupil, but that wasn't all there was to them. The blond somehow sensed their presence and looked right at them, giving Piccolo an eyeful of the true nature behind those eyes, and he found that he couldn't suppress the cold shiver that crept down his spine. Those eyes, they contained an unspeakable fury thousands of years old. Piccolo closed his eyes, trying to quell these irrational fears that were suddenly welling up inside him, but it was of no use, as even with his eyes closed the very image of those hateful eyes burned into his very soul. This kid, whatever he was, he couldn't be human. In fact, Piccolo couldn't even recall encountering something like this before. Every villain he'd ever faced, and even the memories he'd inherited from his own father, all of the malice those beings contained had always been for some ulterior purpose, whether it be for the sake of controlling everything within sight and beyond such as with the likes of his father or Frieza, or just for simple amusement as was the case with Cell. This was worse, oh, so much worse. This was hatred for the sake of hatred, fury without reason, violence without restraint. There was no rhyme or reason to the vibes that Piccolo was getting, this was simply a force that wanted to destroy everything simply because it existed.

Piccolo was snapped out of his stupor by a hand waving in front of his face. He followed the arm attached to the hand to find Gohan staring at him with concern in his eyes.

"Are you alright sensei? I've never seen you so out of it before." Gohan's worry was waved off.

"I'm fine, but the power coming off that kid is more than a little disturbing." His student nodded and the worry in his eyes became even more intense when he looked back at Naruto, who seemed to be waiting for some kind of reaction. He seemed guarded, as though he expected the two to jump in and beat him senseless. Sasuke, irritated by the blond's lack of attention, followed his fellow genin's gaze to see what the interruption was and scowled at the sight of the two observers. He spoke loudly, enhancing his voice with chakra so as to ensure that his and Naruto's unwanted guests could hear him.

"Stay out of this you two, this is between me and the idiot. If either one of you gets in the way I'll kill you myself!" A vicious smirk spread across his face as he turned his attention back to the blond in front of him.

"Let's settle this, dobe. I'm going to show you once and for all just how inferior you are to me. Then, without you to distract me I can finally focus on defeating that man." Sasuke's snide comments infuriated Naruto, causing him to snarl in such a way as to show off his elongated canines.

"Asshole! I'm going to beat that obsession out of you and drag you back kicking and screaming, even if I have to break every bone in your body!" Sasuke's answering smirk served only to further infuriate the blond and he recklessly rushed forward to deliver a powerful punch to Sasuke's face, only for him to lean his head to the left and grab onto his extended arm. He yanked back as hard as he could, forcing Naruto towards him even as he brought his own left fist straight into Naruto's unprotected gut before smashing a painful blow into the blond jinchuuriki's face, sending him skidding backwards several yards on the water's surface as he used his chakra to keep from sinking. Not intending to give his blond rival a chance to recover, Sasuke rushed at top speed towards Naruto who simply floated there, staring up at the sky. Once Sasuke was close enough that he wouldn't be able to dodge, Naruto forcefully flung himself upright, slamming his own forehead into Sasuke's and splitting both their foreheads open. Good thing for Naruto he had a high pain tolerance, higher than Sasuke's apparently if him clutching his forehead was any indication. He could've pressed the attack, but he chose to take this moment to take a breather and see what Gohan and Piccolo were doing. He got the distinct feeling that they'd come here for Sasuke, and would step in if things took a turn for the worse, but he hoped it wouldn't come to that. Some would probably call him selfish for his thoughts, but he wanted to be the one to take Sasuke back to Konoha, to show them all that he could be just as strong or stronger than their precious last Uchiha. His thoughts were interrupted though, when what had initially appeared to be an innocent conversation between the two quickly degraded into what looked like a heated argument, complete with exaggerated hand motions which, if Naruto cared to note, and he did not, were directed at him. He sighed and turned his attention back to a recovering Sasuke.

Meanwhile, back on top of Uchiha Madara's head Gohan and Piccolo were having a less than pleasant conversation.

"I can't believe what you're suggesting Piccolo. We're supposed to be better than that." Master and pupil locked gazes, unwavering and stern eyes meeting angry and disappointed ones.

"Can't you feel the power that boy is giving off? When have you ever felt such evil coming off of one being? That boy is a menace and has to be taken care of now! Think about this for a minute Gohan, are you really willing to risk the safety of this world over the life of one boy?" They continued their glaring match, but Gohan's stare seemed to sharpen ever so slightly, showing just how furious he was over what Piccolo was suggesting.

"And you make it sound like he's a psychotic mass murderer. We can't just kill somebody because they _might_ pose a threat, that would make us no better than our enemies. Do you really want that on your conscience?" Gohan's comments caused Piccolo to growl low in his throat, more than a little annoyed at the boy's hardheadedness. This was much too important to allow someone so young and naïve to decide on his own.

"This isn't about my conscience or anybody else's! Sometimes you have to put your personal feelings to the side in order to do what's right, you should know this by now!" Piccolo stared into Gohan's determined gaze and wanted to beat some sense into him. Didn't he realize that this sort of thing is exactly what allowed Doctor Gero to create the androids and Cell? Goku had made the same mistake so many years ago and Piccolo didn't want to see Gohan do the same thing.

"Look, since I'm on the same team as Naruto I'll keep an eye on him, and I'll let somebody know if it looks like he might be losing control okay? I think it would be better to let the village deal with this situation since it's their responsibility anyways." Gohan's words had a certain logic to them and even Piccolo found it difficult to argue, so he relented.

"Fine, but I'm keeping you to your word. If it's deemed necessary that he be taken care of, then I want no more arguments understood?" Piccolo let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding when Gohan gave a relieved nod. He'd been expecting this to come to blows and knew that there was no way he could beat Gohan in a serious fight, but if it came down to it he would've had to immobilize him somehow and take Naruto out before Gohan had the chance to react. Their attention was drawn back to the fight though when they both felt a large surge of energy building up and saw that Sasuke was holding Naruto up by one hand and had charged a nasty looking electrical attack in his other. After a few moments during which the two appeared to exchange a few words, Sasuke plunged his electrically charged hand towards Naruto's midsection, but at the last second Naruto moved to deflect it. His desperate action kept Sasuke from pulverizing any vital organs, but his chidori still plunged into and through Naruto's shoulder, clearly visible where it stuck out of his back. Smirking, Sasuke ripped his hand out of Naruto's shoulder and grabbed him by the throat, thinking that his victory was now secure. Gohan made to rush down to Naruto's aid but halted in his tracks and shivered violently when the evil feeling in the air increased ten fold and crimson energy bubbled up around Naruto who grabbed Sasuke's forearm with such force that he nearly crushed it into pulp. Sasuke grunted in pain and tried to pry Naruto's fist open but his grip was unwavering. He stumbled back, cradling his arm when Naruto finally released him and stared at him with shock written all over his face as instead of falling over Naruto merely hunched over, allowing blood to stream down his arm and drip down to the lake below.

Gohan, Piccolo and Sasuke all gaped in shock and horror when the basketball sized hole in Naruto's shoulder got smaller and smaller until there wasn't even a scar left and though it didn't seem possible the pressure in the air increased further, threatening to suffocate even the ever stoic Piccolo as the ground began to quake under their feet and the winds picked up to near hurricane levels, forcing the two up on Uchiha Madara's head to shield their eyes from the dirt and other debris flying at them.

"What a terrible power. I've got to stop them now before this gets any further out of hand." Gohan took off before Piccolo could react and the Namek cursed as he took off after his pupil, hoping to keep him from doing something stupid. He could see that the crimson energy had retreated back inside the blond, but its effects were still apparent as all the water within ten feet of the blond genin was being pushed back. What really surprised Piccolo though was when Naruto threw a punch towards Sasuke from about twenty feet away and the sheer energy behind the punch sent Sasuke skidding backwards several feet and left him open to assault. Naruto took advantage of this opening and faster than lightning was inside Sasuke's defenses with a brutal uppercut that lifted him off his feet. The young jinchuuriki didn't stop there and began with a brutal combo of punches that lifted Sasuke higher and higher into the air before finishing it with a roundhouse kick that sent Sasuke sliding back several feet and unable to react when Naruto leaped into the air and came back down on Sasuke hard enough that he was already ten feet under before the water even began to fill in the gap, leaving a tunnel of air leading down to where Sasuke had finally stopped descending. Naruto let out an angry roar just as Sasuke exploded back onto the surface of the water near the cliff that made up the statues. Naruto took off at top speed, jumping onto and rebounding off of the cliff-face to deliver a kick to Sasuke's face that sent him tumbling out of control over the water's surface, though he managed to right himself just in time for Naruto to be on him once again, delivering a vicious combo of kicks and punches that ended with Sasuke floating on his back. Naruto once again used the cliff-face to get in the air over Sasuke, but the Uchiha quickly formed some hand seals and attempted a gokakyuu no jutsu, but Naruto simply inhaled and let out a roar with so much power behind it that it blew Sasuke's technique apart and created a crater in the water over fifty feet in diameter, once again sending gale force winds throughout the valley. Before either of them could do anything else though, Gohan was between them, preventing them from getting at each other. This infuriated Sasuke to no end, and in response to his anger the marks of his cursed seal, until now only having covered half his body, spread out until the black flame patterns covered his entire body and his sharingan evolved, a third tomoe forming in his left eye.

"I told you to stay out of this! It doesn't concern you!" He ground his teeth together and clenched his fists tightly, his nails drawing blood where they cut into his palms. Gohan held his hands up in a placating manner, trying to calm Sasuke down, though it didn't appear to be working.

"Just listen to what I've got to say Sasuke, I've learned some things that you might want to hear." He really hoped Sasuke would listen. From what he'd learned so far Sasuke could be labeled as a missing nin if he deliberately went to Konoha's enemies, and Gohan really wanted to avoid that for Sakura and Naruto's sakes. Of course, if it came down to it he could just knock him out and take him back to Konoha unconscious, but he much preferred the peaceful route. Sasuke scowled darkly at him, but made no move to attack.

"I've got no interest in whatever you have to say, but if it'll keep you out of my way I'll listen." It wasn't much, but Gohan couldn't have hoped for more.

"I think you'll change your mind when I say that it involves your brother and _that _night." Gohan sighed in relief when Sasuke glared at him intensely, indicating he had his full attention. The next part would be the hardest though, as Sasuke had spent most of his life believing what amounted to nothing but lies about his brother, not only for his own safety but for the welfare of the entire village.

"Well, I suppose the first thing I should say is that it turns out that your brother wasn't alone in killing off your clan." Sasuke's eyes widened at this information but he schooled his features quickly enough that it was barely noticeable. How could Gohan know this? Nobody but Itachi and himself had been there that night, so there's no way Gohan could have come across such information, but he gestured for Gohan to continue, wanting to hear what other lies he'd try to feed him before ultimately maiming him and the green guy before continuing his match with Naruto.

"Also, it turns out that the person helping him was Uchiha Madara." Gohan waited for Sasuke to say something but he remained silent, so Gohan continued further, not sure whether to take this as a good sign or a bad sign. Gohan took a calming breath to prepare himself for the next part of what he had to say. He knew that even if Sasuke had remained calm throughout the rest of what he'd said he wouldn't react well to his next words at all.

"Sasuke, your brother massacred the Uchiha clan that night, that much you already know, but what you don't know is why he did it." He could see the growing tension in Sasuke, but he had to tell him, had to convince him that he didn't need to go to Orochimaru for power, that his brother wasn't the evil monster that he thought he was.

"The true reason behind the Uchiha massacre has been kept a secret from you and the entire village, for your protection and the village's as well. I know what Itachi said that night, that he'd killed off your entire family to test his capacity." Gohan watched as Sasuke visibly reeled upon hearing his brother's words thrown back at him once again. There's no way Gohan could know such things, and he wasn't shy about letting him know.

"And why should I believe what you're telling me? If this really happened and was kept from me and the rest of the village, then how did you find out? The way I see it is that either you're lying to me, or you're in league with Itachi. Either way you're giving me an excuse to kill you." He crossed his arms and waited to see how Gohan would react.

"You remember that Itachi used his eye technique on me right?" An impassive nod was his only response.

"Well, I suppose to help explain this I should probably tell you that there are two distinct personalities in my mind." Gohan refrained from giving any more information than that, as Sasuke was the last person he wanted to reveal his secret to right now.

"You're probably thinking that I'm crazy, but I guess the best way to put it is that my split personalities are the result of what you could probably call an advanced bloodline limit. The only problem is, I haven't exactly allowed myself enough balance in my own mind and have pretty much forced that other personality to develop a consciousness of its own. The result of this, of course, is that my other personality doesn't like me very much and for most of my life has been fighting me for control of my body."

"So what exactly does that have to do with my brother? If you're just going to waste my time then get ready to fight me." Sasuke's impatience elicited an exasperated sigh from Gohan, but he quickly continued before the broody Uchiha flew off the handle.

"I'm getting there, just let me finish." Gohan waited for Sasuke to relent before he continued.

"As I was saying, this other personality was constantly fighting me for dominance, and when Itachi used Tsukuyomi on me, my other personality saw into Itachi's memories and reached into his mind to take some of them to attack me with, specifically memories of the day that he killed his best friend for the Mangekyo Sharingan and the night he slaughtered your clan."

"That's all well and good, but you still haven't given me any reason to believe you." Sasuke was beginning to grow impatient with Gohan. The newly instated Genin was trying to interfere with his acquisition of power, and Sasuke did not intend to humor him for much longer.

"Fine then, I'll tell you exactly where Itachi told you to find the true secrets behind the Sharingan. He told you that the secret meeting place where the scroll is kept is hidden under the seventh tatami mat on the far right side of the main temple of the Nakano Shrine. He told you that's where you would find the true purpose of the Sharingan and its history." Sasuke's eyes widened almost to the size of dinner plates, but still Gohan remained on guard, not sure about how Sasuke would react to what he'd just recited to him. His concern turned out to be valid as Sasuke took on a look of pure and utter loathing and he lashed out at the young half Saiya-jin.

"Don't screw with me! He told you all of that! He's trying to keep me weak and you're working with him! I'll kill you!!!!" Sasuke launched into a vicious assault on Gohan, but to his surprise and frustration couldn't seem to land a hit on his fellow genin. He tossed a handful of shuriken and hurriedly launched himself at where he knew the young warrior would dodge to, aiming a devastating punch at where Gohan's face would be, only for the half Saiya-jin to appear and calmly catch his fist with one hand and no apparent effort. Sasuke grunted and tried to overpower Gohan's hold, but it was like trying to push a brick wall and so he swung his other fist which was similarly caught. Gohan did not look amused.

"What is your problem?! You've got people that care about you and want to help you, but you're leaving them behind for what, a grudge?" He knew he'd struck a nerve when Sasuke recklessly tried to knock his feet out from under him. He jumped over the sweeping kick and kneed the traitorous Uchiha in the face, forcing him back a couple of steps. Sasuke growled at his life's goal being torn down and labeled as a mere grudge.

"Shut up! What do you know about what I'm going through?! You never had to watch your family get murdered right in front of you by your very own brother! You weren't forced to relive that same experience over and over again unable to do anything about it! I don't have time to sit back and play ninja with those fools in Konoha. If I want to make Itachi pay for what he's done I have to get stronger, no matter what the cost is. I've been too content to sit back and rely on others to help me, and I can't afford to do that if I'm going to kill that man. I can't afford to be distracted by attachments to teammates or trying to be happy. Such things will only hold me back and I don't have time for that!"

"So that's it then? You're just going to throw out everyone that cares for you as though they were yesterday's trash? Nothing matters to you except for killing Itachi?" Gohan's tone held a hint of finality to it, and Sasuke nodded.

"Then so be it. I'll show you just how wrong you are Sasuke. Let me show you the strength you can get by fighting to protect rather than to kill, I'll show you by fighting you to protect Naruto and Sakura's hearts from your foolish mistakes." Gohan crossed his arms in front of his face and began to bring out his power, but Sasuke just sneered at him arrogantly.

"What do you think you're going to do? Even that strange power you showed to me before wasn't enough to beat me, what makes you think anything has changed since then?" Sasuke's attitude faltered for a moment when the wind picked up and the force with which it ripped through the area nearly forced him to lose control of his chakra but he refocused at the last second and decided to wait and see what Gohan had up his sleeve. Unlike the last time they'd fought, there was no explosion of gold and in fact no changes save for the white flame-like aura that now surrounded the twelve year old hero, but Sasuke could sense a difference in his demeanor, and could see a steely resolve in his eyes once the mini wind storm had ceased.

"But you see Sasuke, something has changed. Last time, I wasn't expecting you to actually try to kill me and so I panicked at the last second, but now that I'm not only expecting such things out of you now, but have already seen your strongest technique, there's no reason for me to worry. All of that aside, last time I wasn't really taking you seriously, but now that I'm fighting for my friends, even if it is only for their happiness, I'm not going to be holding back on you this time. Now then, enough talk. Let's fight." When Gohan moved to attack Sasuke was able to follow his movements easily enough thanks to his fully matured Sharingan, but before his brain had even begun to command his limbs to move a massive force not unlike a sledge hammer slammed into his abdomen, sending him skidding backwards over the water while clutching his abused midsection. He wasn't even given time to recover before stars exploded into his vision when his head collided rather forcefully with Gohan's knee, stunning the traitorous genin enough for Gohan to launch a full out assault on him with such speed and ferocity that even the Sharingan was having trouble keeping up. Sasuke was beyond surprised at what Gohan was subjecting him to, wondering at where the sudden changes had come from in the normally carefree boy that he'd barely thought of as better than Naruto.

'Where is he getting this speed from? By the time I'm seeing the chakra projections of his next move, he's already hit me several times.' Indeed, in this fight the Sharingan was becoming little more than a liability. Normally, the Sharingan would show the user their opponent's movements in advance by allowing them to see the subtle projections of chakra put forth just slightly before the movement was made, but in this case Gohan was displaying such speed that the projections were lagging behind the actual movements, causing Sasuke to become disoriented as he struggled to determine where Gohan actually was and what was simply supposed to be a projection of a previous attack. Finally, a smirking Gohan backed off a bit and allowed Sasuke some breathing room, his Saiya-jin half in full battle mode.

"What's wrong Sasuke? Weren't you going to kill me? How are you going to do that if you can't block or even dodge any of my attacks? If you want to follow Itachi's words then show me! I want to see the full power of your hatred!" A rather nasty idea came to Gohan then, one that he didn't particularly like but seemed like it might be a little more successful than mere words had been, so he formed a hand sign and focused his chakra. When the resulting cloud of smoke cleared, Sasuke forgot all about his battered body and snarled in rage at the sight before him, as right in front of him stood a picture perfect copy of Uchiha Itachi, Akatsuki robes and all. When he spoke, even Itachi's voice had been perfectly emulated.

"Foolish little brother, you have failed to live up to my expectations. Perhaps I have overestimated you." Without giving his actions even a moment's thought, Sasuke flew through a string of hand seals and a large fireball was sent hurtling towards "Itachi", who simply shook his head and was gone from sight. Sasuke tensed when he felt a presence behind him, and a shiver crawled up his spine as the image of his brother leaned over his shoulder to whisper in his ear.

"Still as weak as ever I see. At this rate you'll never be able to kill me. Perhaps Naruto-kun would be a better measure of my capacity." Sasuke roared out his rage and recklessly struck out at Gohan, his hatred having blinded him to the point that he could no longer discern that this was just a henge. Gohan easily evaded the blow and gave Sasuke a taunting smirk before winking at a confused looking Naruto, who only cocked his head to the side to indicate that he wasn't quite following what Gohan was getting at. The Itachi lookalike turned completely towards Naruto, seemingly dismissing Sasuke as a threat, further raising his ire.

"Show me Naruto-kun, let me see the extent of your capacity so that I may measure it against my own." "Itachi" disappeared and was instantly in front of Naruto, whispering in his ear as he had done with Sasuke.

"Listen up Naruto, we're going to fight but at first I'm going to beat you. After I beat you up a bit I'm going to threaten to destroy Konoha. When I do that I want you to act like you actually think I'm going to do it, so that when we fight again I'll act like I'm having difficulty beating you. Got it?" Naruto nodded slightly, but before the two could initiate Gohan's plan they were forced to dodge a barrage of shuriken with Naruto dodging to the side and Gohan getting behind Sasuke faster than even the Sharingan could follow, once again leaning into his ear.

"You are a nuisance." With that simple statement Gohan batted Sasuke away with what felt to Sasuke like the force of a freight train, though in actuality Gohan had held back much of his strength, using the opportunity to cement in Sasuke's mind the idea that "Itachi" thought of him as nothing more threatening than an ant. Sasuke took several moments to recover, this being due to the fact that when he hit the cliff face and fortunately landed on dry land, he'd actually blacked out for several seconds due to the sheer amount of force he'd hit the cliff with. He groaned as he sat up and rubbed his aching head, but took advantage of the respite in order to clear his thoughts. He watched as "Itachi" turned his attention to Naruto and proceeded to beat the living tar out of him. Even though he had known it was a henge, the mere sight of Itachi had sent him into a blind rage. This coupled with the knowledge that Gohan was mocking him had driven him into a frenzy that he just hadn't been able to recover from. Of course using the cursed seal didn't help matters either as it tended to amplify his bloodlust and rage several times over when in use. But there were other things bothering him as well.

'How is Gohan so far above our level? Even with our powers enhanced as they are the idiot and I don't even seem to be making him put in any effort to beat us.' Sasuke got to his feet and dusted himself off with a wince. That last attack had hurt more than he'd care to admit, and the scary part was that he could tell Gohan had held back quite a bit.

'Just how strong is he?' He slowly made his way over to where the two were fighting but stopped just when he got to within hearing distance, a fact that Gohan didn't miss and so enacted the second part of his plan. After delivering an extra harsh blow that knocked the wind out of his blond opponent, Gohan jumped back a short distance and gave him a disappointed stare. Of course, Sasuke wouldn't be able to see his facial expressions, but it would help Naruto act a little easier if he were to play his own part more realistically.

"You disappoint me Naruto-kun. I had heard that you were exceptionally strong, and yet you haven't even laid a finger on me." Gohan chuckled in amusement when Naruto flipped him off despite still being bent over in an effort to catch his breath.

"If one who is considered strong in Konoha is still so weak, then perhaps I should not have stopped with my clan so many years ago. Perhaps once I have disabled you and taken you to my organization, I should rid the world of the blemish that is Konoha as well. Such a stagnant place of weak hearted fools does not deserve to exist." Gohan watched on impassively while Naruto straightened himself out and sent him his nastiest glare.

"Bring it on you bastard! I'm gonna be Hokage one day and I can't do that If I let you have your way!" Naruto brought his hands into his favorite seal and five clones poofed into existence around him. Before the smoke could even begin to clear all five clones rushed head on at Gohan who was quick to dispatch them all, having sensed Naruto leaping into the air. He wasn't given time to ponder it though as a hail of kunai would have prodded at him in a rather uncomfortable way had he not jumped to the side, right into Naruto's waiting fist. Of course, he'd seen the attack coming and could've dodged it easily, but he was trying to get a message across to Sasuke and he wasn't about to ruin it now. Especially now that Sasuke had apparently regained control of his emotions and was thinking clearly. At least, that's what Gohan gathered from the fact that the vengeful Uchiha hadn't blindly rushed in and interfered in the fight in an attempt to either take them both down at once or simply maim Gohan. Gohan started to second guess his earlier thoughts when a rain of small fireballs came hurtling from behind at both him and Naruto, forcing them to separate and turn their complete attention to Sasuke, who at this point looked more annoyed than murderous.

"Are you two done embarrassing yourselves yet? Because that act wasn't even close to convincing." Sasuke glared at them both, daring them to try again but Gohan just shrugged and dropped the henge.

"Eh, we had to try at least. Obviously talking isn't enough to get through that thick skull of yours." Gohan's offhand remark drew an appraising stare from Sasuke, who wondered at his more insulting attitude.

'Something's not quite right here. His entire demeanor has changed.' This was even more apparent though the way Gohan was carrying himself, as he now had his arms crossed over his chest and an arrogant smirk on his lips. He leveled Gohan with his most heated glare, which only seemed to amuse the dark haired enigma and his posture seemed to grow even more haughty.

"How are you so strong? The dobe and I are the strongest genin in Konoha and yet you weren't even putting any effort in when you were fighting us." Sasuke wanted to wipe that smirk off of Gohan's face, but that turned out to be unnecessary as he rolled his eyes at the Uchiha's stupidity and motioned for Piccolo to come over to them before reverting back to his more human half, a fact that neither Naruto or Sasuke missed.

"It's like he's got a split personality." Naruto couldn't help but muse to himself. He pushed those thoughts aside for the moment though in favor of wondering why Gohan had gotten his green companion to join them. Did he intend for him to fight Sasuke? Gohan's mentor and friend looked just as confused as everyone else felt when he drifted over and landed in their midst, keeping a wary eye on Sasuke for any sudden hostile moves.

"What is it kid? You need someone to take this brat out for you?" Piccolo knew how Gohan hated to kill or even hurt any living being, so much so that despite everything that had happened he still regretted killing Cell, thinking that he should've found another way even though he knew better than anyone else that people like Cell could not be reasoned with. Piccolo had no such issues with ending the life of another, of course being who he was it wasn't really all that surprising, even to someone as naïve as Gohan, who shook his head in response to his teacher's question.

"No, but I was hoping you could help me clear some things up for Sasuke." At seeing Piccolo's lack of understanding he explained further.

"It pertains to your previous relationship with my dad before the Saiya-jin invasion." Piccolo narrowed his eyes as realization dawned on him as to what Gohan was getting at.

"So it's like that is it?" He turned his hard gaze to Sasuke, who resisted the urge to flinch under his scrutinizing gaze. He got the feeling that if it came to a fight, Piccolo wouldn't be as kind to him as Gohan had been.

"What happened to you pretty boy? Someone kill your parents?" Sasuke bristled at the insult, and briefly wondered again why Gohan had brought the green man over here, but once again decided to play along. Even though these soft hearted fools were annoying, it was also slightly amusing to watch them try to change his mind.

"My brother killed my entire clan in one night, leaving us two as the last remaining Uchiha. My life's ambition is to avenge and revive my clan, regardless of the cost." He waited for Piccolo to make some plea for him to change his heart or to get angry with him, but what he got was the last thing he was expecting.

"So you think that by killing off your brother you'll become happy? That it'll restore your clan's honor? Is that what you're after?" Piccolo grunted when Sasuke said nothing, but he could tell by looking at the boy's face that he'd gotten it right. While Piccolo wasn't one to show his feelings he could still read other people like open books, most likely owing to the heritage of his people.

"Well forget about it. It doesn't work that way." He could see Sasuke getting angry so he headed it off, knowing that Gohan would get upset were he to goad the boy into a fight.

"I know you're thinking that I'm just another fool spouting off nonsense that I know nothing about, but I was in your place once." He looked down at his hands, almost as though he could see the blood of his one time rival staining them crimson.

"The reason I'm here today, the only reason I was even born, was for revenge." He cast a sidelong glance to Gohan, which Sasuke didn't miss.

"My father was evil, striving for nothing less than to conquer the world through force using vile, twisted creatures of his own design as his army of destruction. For a long time he stood unopposed, spreading death, destruction and misery throughout the world with no one strong enough to get in his way, until one day a master martial artist named Mutaito managed to create a technique to seal him away at the cost of his life. Three hundred years later my father was broken out of his container and once again tried to take over the world. He nearly succeeded until he met up with Gohan's dad, who after several battles managed to land a mortal blow on him. Before he died, my father vowed revenge on Goku and put all of his remaining essence into my creation before sending me far beyond Goku's reach. From the time I was born I had my father's memories and hatred of Gohan's father and so I trained day in and day out until the time I thought myself ready. Time and again I fought the idiot, and every time we fought our encounters ended up with him as the victor, no matter how close I came to killing him. My hatred for him grew as we continued our battles, but it seemed no matter how strong I got he would always find some way to trump me and deny me the revenge I so longed for, until one day a terrible foe came into our midst that was a monumental threat to both of us. We teamed up and, strong as we were still couldn't beat him. In the end, Goku had to distract and immobilize our opponent while I charged my strongest technique, knowing that by doing so he would also be allowing me to kill him." Piccolo paused for a moment, checking to see if his audience was paying any attention to him. Sasuke didn't disappoint.

"And?" His tone was demanding, and Piccolo had half a mind to just quit there to teach the brat a lesson, but that would defeat the purpose of starting the monologue to begin with, and Piccolo was not one that liked to waste his time with meaningless pursuits and so, with an annoyed twitch he continued.

"As I stood over his corpse it wasn't anything like what I expected it to be. I thought I'd be happy, that I'd feel complete and that I would celebrate the completion of my life's ambition. What happened though was completely different. As I looked down at his lifeless body I felt...empty, like my life was now devoid of purpose. I didn't even feel like I'd really accomplished anything. It was....just another kill." He gave Sasuke a pointed stare, making the genin feel as though he were judging his very soul.

"The life of an avenger is an empty one. Once you reach your ambition and grasp what you've desired for so long there will be not completion, but rather a dark void in your life that will threaten to swallow you whole. The only reason I escaped that void is because of Gohan." He sent the most affectionate look he could muster to Gohan, a look that most people would miss but Gohan had long ago come to recognize and he returned it with a happy smile.

" After I killed off both my opponent and my hated enemy, I had to take the kid in and train him over the span of one year because our enemy had even stronger friends that were coming to take revenge of their own. During that year, Gohan showed me what's really important in life. He showed me what's truly worth fighting for, and dying for. Think about it kid, is such an empty existence really worth all of the trouble and heartache you're going to endure, that you're going to put those that care about you through?" Piccolo turned his gaze to Gohan, to see if he had anything else to add, and indeed his former student wasted no time in bringing up his own point.

"You said you wanted to revive your clan didn't you Sasuke?" The youngest Uchiha glared first at Naruto, then at Gohan as if daring them to crack any jokes about what that would require, but from the somber looks in their eyes he could tell that they were thinking about what Piccolo said just as much as he was. He didn't say anything, but looked directly into Gohan's eyes, signaling that he had his full attention.

"Think about that for a moment. How would you go about doing that?" Gohan could see Sasuke's mouth already tugging down at the corners, and so kept his stance as serious as possible to let him know that he wasn't luring him into some perverted joke.

"Well, obviously I'd have to find a woman and....." Gohan cut him off abruptly, bringing his hand up in a stopping motion.

"Okay now think about what you're saying. As soon as you turn your back on Konoha the news is going to spread throughout the elemental countries, meaning that most available girls will know about what you've done. Would you want to devote yourself to someone you knew was willing to turn on you for their own ambitions and desires? Even if you did manage to find someone to trust you enough, what village would have you? Sure the Sharingan is considered a very valuable tool, but in this world of paranoia and political subterfuge what government would accept a clan of traitors? Konoha would certainly execute you as soon as you tried to go back, and you would probably be treated like a second class citizen anywhere else, assuming you weren't turned in to Konoha for the bounty on your head, which also means you'd have to watch whatever woman decided to marry you closely so that you could avoid being stabbed in the back. Besides, everything else we've said aside, why would you trust in and follow the words of the very same person who killed your family off, or for that matter be anything like him?" Gohan threw his hands up in a sign of surrender when Sasuke shot him a warning glare. He would not be compared to Itachi.

"I'm nothing like him! That bastard killed off his entire family, my entire family!" A new but familiar voice disagreed, causing Sasuke to jerk in surprise.

"Now I wouldn't say that Sasuke. You're more like Itachi than you realize, although I would say that Orochimaru would be a better comparison. Either way they both turned their back on their village and betrayed the trust of their comrades, the very same thing you're trying to do." Sasuke scowled and looked off to his right to see a haggard looking Kakashi and an ever stoic Gaara while he could see Lee off in the distance, being unable to walk on water due to his inability to mold chakra. Kakashi waved lazily while Gaara glared death at him, daring him to make a hostile move. When he realized that all eyes were on him Kakashi reacted in the same way he normally would.

"Yo. Sorry we're late." He gave his usual pleasant eye smile while Piccolo rolled his eyes at the jounin's obvious insincerity and Gohan wondered why he'd bother saying something like that. Naruto and Sasuke just groaned.

And that's it for this chapter. Sorry I'm late but I was helping an old lady cross the street when a black cat crossed our path. While I was trying to help the old lady find her way back we got lost on the road of life and that's where I've been ever since. At any rate, this chapter is at over 9,200 words not counting this author's note, making it my longest chapter by over 1,000 words so I hope it was worth the wait. Anyways, same as always let me know what you think.


	16. Chapter 16

I've just got one thing to say about last chapter before we begin. IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!!!!! If you don't know what this means then you fail. Good day.

Kakashi took a quick scan of his students and was disheartened by what he saw. Both Sasuke and Naruto looked like they'd been through hell. Well, Sasuke did anyways and the only way he could tell with Naruto was by the state of his clothes, and that is what had caught his attention as there was a massive hole in Naruto's shirt over his right shoulder. He gave Sasuke what could only be interpreted as a disappointed look. It didn't take a genius to figure out what technique had created that hole after all, though it was beyond amazing that Naruto showed no signs of any injury having been there, even with his amazing healing ability.

"So you tried to kill Naruto did you?" He received no response from the Uchiha, who was too busy studying the water below him with an intense look on his face. Kakashi wondered what had transpired here to make Sasuke look so cowed and.....was that a bit of shame he saw? He shoved the thought aside for the moment, as regardless of how Sasuke felt now he'd still have to answer for everything he'd done and attempted to do.

"Well, either way you still tried to abandon the village so I'm going to have to ask you to stand down and put your hands behind your back." Sasuke wordlessly complied with the jounin's request and his wrists were quickly and tightly bound with ninja wire even as he allowed his cursed seal to recede. Seeing that Sasuke was coming along quietly Naruto followed his example and pushed the Kyuubi's chakra back into the seal.

"Since it seems like everyone is in pretty good health we should probably go meet up with Lee and escort Sasuke back to the village. I've already sent for retrieval teams to find the others just in case they need help, so we won't need to worry about that." Everyone made their way back to the area at the feet of the Shodai Hokage's statue, where Lee was doing vertical push ups while he waited. When he saw them approaching, he performed one last push up and with a dramatic flip landed on his feet and grinned at them, pleased with the success of their mission. He flashed Naruto a thumbs-up and gave his brightest grin, which would have blinded everyone present had they not covered their eyes at the last second. Conveniently, Lee did not notice this, as he was too intent on congratulating Naruto.

"Yosh! Naruto-kun has once again proven how brightly his flames of youth burn!" While Lee poured his praises onto Naruto, the very target of his passionate outburst gestured towards Gohan, wanting to share the horror.

"Don't forget about Gohan, he helped out a lot." Naruto received a look of betrayal from Gohan just as the half-saiya-jin was wondering if he should dump some water on the green clad oddity in order to put out the fires that seem to have spontaneously overtaken his eyes.

"Yosh! Gohan-kun is as much of an inspiration as Naruto-kun! I can't let myself fall behind in the ways of youth, so when we get back to Konoha I will run 30 laps around the village. If I cannot do that I will perform 500 squats. If I cannot perform 500 squats then I will....." Lee was promptly tuned out as he went on one of his usual rants. Kakashi sweatdropped and wondered not for the first time what the Sandaime had been thinking when he'd allowed Gai to take on a team of his own.

"Alright, as.....inspiring as Lee's little speech is, we should probably start heading back to Konoha....." Kakashi trailed off when he noticed Gohan's posture stiffen and the boy began staring off into the distance as though waiting for something.

"Is everything alright Gohan? You look a little distracted." His newest student gave what sounded like an annoyed grunt and though he didn't avert his gaze it was obvious that it was Kakashi he was addressing.

"I'd hoped that they wouldn't come after me again after I sent them away last time, but I guess my Mom isn't going to give up that easily." He gave a resigned sigh and actually looked Kakashi in the eye when he spoke this time.

"I'm about to get some unwanted visitors, so you guys should just go on ahead of me so you don't get caught in whatever crossfire comes about." He immediately turned his gaze back to the horizon, and so missed Kakashi shaking his head.

"It's alright, Sasuke has made it obvious that he isn't going anywhere and besides, you're part of the team now and we're not going back a man short. Isn't that right Naruto?" He gave an eye-smile to his most energetic student.

"Kakashi-sensei's right! You helped me get Sasuke back and now it's my turn to help you fight these bastards off!" Naruto was surprised when Gohan turned on him and Kakashi with a glare.

"You don't get it! One of the guys that's coming won't hesitate to kill either one of you if you get in the way! This fight is going to be way beyond both of you. You can't fight someone like Vegeta." Before either of his teammates could respond two dots appeared on the horizon and quickly grew into six people, who revealed themselves to be Vegeta and Krillin holding an irate Chichi and a rather uncomfortable looking Bulma, both of whom were carrying their rather excited boys. The four landed several feet away, with Chichi and Bulma setting Goten and Trunks down on the rocks to play while Bulma watched over them. Once Chichi was sure the boys were okay she stormed over to a shocked Gohan, who hadn't expected her to actually show up. Vegeta stood back and smirked at what he knew the brat was about to go through. Serves him right for leaving his harpy mother to show up on his doorstep every day to bother him about bringing her "delinquent" son home. In fact, Chichi had brought Goten over to play with Trunks when Vegeta had felt Gohan's power rise and had muttered his usual insults under his breath, and yet Chichi had heard him and demanded to be taken to Gohan so she could convince him to come back herself since he and the other fighters were obviously incapable of bringing a mere child home. Never mind the fact that said child could blow up the planet or kill every single one of those fighters with the barest amount of effort. Gohan's shock quickly turned to anger which he barely managed to keep off his face but caused his seal to throb painfully, begging to be released.

"What are you doing here mom?" He managed to keep the anger out of his voice, and somehow even managed to keep his face impassive, but Chichi was oblivious to his internal struggle.

"What am I doing here? WHAT AM I DOING HERE?! You have the nerve to ask me that after you just up and disappear one day?! You are not going to be asking me any questions young man. You are going to come back home with me." Her tone left no room for argument and promised pain to anyone stupid enough to try.

"I'm not going home Mom. I made it clear in my letter that I'm not going to be coming home for a while. I don't have time to sit around and study all day like you want. This is the way it's going to be, and I'm not asking for your permission, not anymore." Gohan watched as his mother took on a look of such fury that it nearly made him wince. He hated doing this to his mother but she obviously wouldn't listen to reason, which is why he'd had to sneak out in the first place. Chichi made to smack him, but found her fist caught in a much stronger grip. She looked up to notice that the person keeping her from her son only had one eye. He spoke with a polite tone, but his one visible eye was colder than ice.

"That's quite enough ma'am. You've made your point already and Gohan's made it quite clear that he has no intention of going with you. As his sensei and commanding officer I cannot allow you to force your will upon him. Now, if you'll please leave quietly we can all pretend like nothing happened." As Kakashi looked into her eyes he could see the determination and confidence that radiated off of her, and realized that she was a trained fighter. She wrenched her hand out of his grip and glared up at him.

"Nobody is keeping me away from my son. Vegeta, you know what to do." She turned the barest of glances at the Saiya-jin prince, who very nearly lost his cool at being ordered around like some flunky, but the idea of fighting the brat was enticing enough to let it slide, so he gave a predatory smirk to his target.

"Alright brat, I've been bored for too long now and it's time for me to let off some energy." He eyed Gohan expectantly, knowing that this time there would be nothing to keep the clown's son from fighting him all out. The only problem being that Kakashi now faced him instead. He no longer sounded so polite when speaking.

"Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. Gohan isn't going anywhere that he doesn't want to right now. If that's a problem then I'll gladly be your opponent." He glared daggers at Vegeta and Chichi, daring either one of them to make a move when Vegeta broke out in amused laughter.

"Fool. I have no interest in fighting weaklings. Whether or not you stand in the way and whether or not he gets taken somewhere against his will matters not as I will not be denied this fight. Do not get in my way." He took a step forward and instantly found himself stepping to the side to avoid several shuriken and then immediately taking to the air as Kakashi was suddenly behind him and launching a giant fireball his way. Chuckling to himself Vegeta disappeared and reappeared behind Kakashi.

"You're fast for a human, but against a Saiya-jin you're nothing." Vegeta watched as Kakashi quickly turned around only for Vegeta's fist to meet his gut harshly, doubling the jounin over his fist only for Kakashi to disappear in a puff of smoke to reveal a shattered rock in his place. Vegeta scowled angrily at the rock's remains and returned his attention to Gohan, of whom he now had an unimpeded view.

"Alright brat, it's just you and me now." He didn't get to say or do anything else as a gigantic pillar of water rose up out of the lake and formed into a feral looking dragon before rushing right at Vegeta, catching him unaware and smashing him up against the Shodai's leg. He recovered quickly and took to the air, beckoning for Gohan to follow, completely ignoring Kakashi. Gohan gave a resigned sigh and followed after him, knowing full well that it could turn ugly for the others if he didn't comply.

"Let's just get this over with Vegeta. I've got training to catch up on." He could feel the smirk his Saiya-jin half was giving off at the indignant scowl he'd gotten in response to his thinly veiled insult.

"Don't dismiss me so easily! Do you think I've been sitting idly by while you've been away? I'm going to crush you into the dirt and show you your place!" Vegeta's power shot through the roof as he brought out his maximum without transforming, forcing those below with the exception of Piccolo to take cover from the debris blowing about in the massive winds that had picked up. As Gohan watched Vegeta settle into an attack stance a plan settled into being in his mind and he nearly laughed at what he was going to do, but kept it to himself so as not to draw suspicion.

"What, do you think I've been slacking off Vegeta? I may not have had much time for physical training but I've been learning some techniques that could come in very handy. For instance...." One giddy laugh and a hand sign later Gohan was gone and in his place stood......

"K.....Kakarrot?" Vegeta was at a loss for words, and he couldn't keep from imitating a fish at the sudden appearance of his hated rival, who chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"Hey there Vegeta! Long time no see huh?" "Goku" gave Vegeta a big grin before settling into his own stance, though Vegeta had obviously forgotten his own in favor of gaping at the impossible sight before him.

"What is the meaning of this?! You're supposed to be dead!" The Saiya-jin prince had overcome his shock, but overwhelming confusion had taken its place. There was no way that the idiot could have come back to life, as the dragon balls hadn't been used and even if they had the clown had decided once again to sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of the planet and remain dead this time, something that Vegeta still had trouble understanding. The low class Saiya-jin before him arched an eyebrow in concern.

"Wow Vegeta, you're really chatty today. Usually we'd be tearing up the countryside by now." Excitement shone in "Goku's" eyes as he waited for Vegeta to compose himself and regain his usual stubborn attitude. Vegeta didn't keep him waiting long.

'Hmph, the idiot's right for once. Questions can wait for later.' A savage grin broke out on his features as the excitement of fighting his long time rival ignited the battle lust in his veins. Without preamble he shot forward with a right hook to wipe that idiotic smile off of Goku's face, which of course was dodged.

"That's more like it Vegeta!" In the blink of an eye Goku was gone from sight and his boot was heading towards his opponent's unguarded back. Vegeta wasn't going to be taken out that easily though and spun around to bat the taller Saiya-jin's foot aside and thrust his free arm forward to launch an energy blast right into his face, temporarily blinding him and leaving him vulnerable to attack. Vegeta capitalized on this by slipping around behind his rival's back and bringing his fists down at Gohan's neck in what was supposed to be a hammer blow, but Gohan had expected such an attack and was already gone by the time Vegeta's fists should have impacted with him. Vegeta was quick to whirl around and knock away the energy blast he'd sensed from behind, but he was left unable to block the elbow that found its way to his rib cage. Ignoring the brief pain in his ribs he quickly brought his arms up to block the axe kick that came at him from above and shifted his position so that he could grab on to the extended leg. Vegeta didn't hesitate to make use of his new advantage and swung "Kakarrot" around, building up momentum until letting him fly and launching a medium sized energy blast. The blast connected with his rival's midsection and engulfed him in a cloud of smoke, bringing a victorious smirk to his face. His smirk faded into nothing very quickly however when it wasn't Goku that fell from the explosion but a singed looking Gohan, confusing him beyond belief. Gohan recovered quickly enough, but approached him with a concerned look, though mentally both halves were laughing their metaphoric heads off at his bewilderment.

"Are you alright Vegeta? You look like you've seen a ghost." It was becoming more and more difficult for Gohan to contain his laughter, but for the sake of continuing the prank he maintained his composure, if only barely. He briefly wondered if some of Naruto's personality was beginning to rub off on him. Vegeta meanwhile maintained a look that suggested he was about to lose his mind.

"W...what is going on here? Is this some sort of trick?! Who are you?!" He'd started out sounding unsure of himself, but it obviously hadn't taken long for him to return to his usual demeanor and demand answers, but Gohan wasn't done toying with him just yet.

"What are you talking about Vegeta? I'm Gohan, the same person you came here to fight, remember?" He could tell that Vegeta didn't particularly care for the way he'd worded that but then again, that was the entire purpose. Riling the Saiya-jin prince up, as he was currently discovering, was not only easy but also very enjoyable. And so, with that in mind, he pressed on.

"Maybe we should just quit for now. You don't look like you're feeling too good." Gohan really hoped Piccolo was able to listen in on this. He knew without a doubt that his former teacher would get more amusement out of this than anyone else, considering the friction that always existed between the two whenever they were around each other. The look of impotent rage on Vegeta's face was more than rewarding enough on its own, but the indignant explosion that followed made it just so much more fun.

"I don't need your pity! I'm going to crush you regardless of who you look like!" Vegeta didn't even give Gohan time to retort before he was gone from sight and already swinging his fists at Gohan from behind, but the prince was already becoming sloppy in his rage and Gohan took full advantage of his distracted state of mind by easily dodging each blow that was sent his way. He twisted around a particularly vicious blow that would've shattered his nose and used the extended arm to pull Vegeta down while bringing his knee up into his abdomen before elbowing him viciously in the face, sending him spinning away. Gohan quickly thrust his open palm forward and with a bright flash of light and a small explosion Vegeta was sent hurtling down into the lake below. He briefly pondered following after the Saiya-jin prince but decided to allow his arrogant nemesis time to collect his thoughts. He quickly stole a glance down towards the others and wasn't surprised to see Kakashi and the others openly gaping at him with Krillin giving him a thumbs-up. It seemed the bald midget was only along because he feared the wrath of Bulma and Chichi, though Gohan surmised that Bulma was only along to give his mother emotional support rather than actually agreeing with her actions. After all, the blue haired genius had often made sure to give him her sympathies at having to live under the thumb of such an overprotective woman. After all, even as overprotective as Bulma could be of Trunks at times, even she understood that children should be allowed to pursue their dreams, even if she didn't necessarily agree with their choices.

**'Hey, pay attention to the fight imbecile! There's no time for distractions right now!'** Gohan cursed himself under his breath and for once was thankful for his other half, especially since he barely managed to bat aside the sphere of energy that had been coming at him from below. Unfortunately for him, Vegeta had been right on the tail of the blast and struck his head right into Gohan's midsection, forcing him higher into the air and onto the defensive as the prince launched a vicious assault of punches and kicks that Gohan had been left unprepared for. Gohan let out a grunt when a particularly hard kick made it past his defenses and struck him directly in the throat. The force of the blow not only sent Gohan sailing, but caused him to instinctively bring his hands to his injured wind pipe as he coughed and gagged, leaving himself completely open to attack, and Vegeta wasted no time in using this to his advantage. He smirked maliciously as he teleported underneath a falling Gohan and brought his knee up to connect harshly with the younger Saiya-jin's back and forcing him to bend backwards at a near unnatural angle.

Gohan could only groan as his world exploded in pain and he vaguely registered the feeling of the prince's hand around his throat before he was sent soaring into the air and a massive amount of energy began building up below him. 

Down below, Naruto was nearly panicking at the sight of the blast of purple energy he could see forming between Vegeta's cupped hands.

"Kakashi-sensei we have to do something! That bastard's taking the fight way too seriously!" Naruto really wished he knew how to fly like that, then he'd go show that bastard not to mess with one of his friends, but unfortunately he didn't know any ranged attacks and so he was hoping his sensei could come up with something. Kakashi sighed despondently. He wanted to help Gohan too, but even he was at a loss as to what to do in this situation.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but there's really nothing we can do from here. If there were some way for us to get close to him then we might be able to distract him long enough for Gohan to recover, but as it is the terrain here has us at a big disadvantage." He shook his head sadly. He wanted to help Gohan just as much as Naruto, but even with his vast repertoire of jutsu he couldn't do much to an opponent that could seemingly defy the laws of gravity. Even Lee was looking disappointed despite his normal passionate behavior. Naruto seemed to remember something and brightened up for a moment.

"What about Gaara?" All eyes turned to the red headed Jinchuriki but were disappointed when he shook his head negatively.

"While I could use my sand to carry me to those heights, those two are moving at speeds that I could not keep up with, which would render any assistance I could give ineffective." Thus, they could only watch on anxiously as the battle continued, hoping that Gohan could pull himself together before Vegeta did something drastic.

Meanwhile, Vegeta was grinning with excitement as his attack finally reached full charge and he uttered words he'd only spoken once in the years he'd been on Earth.

"Looks like I win this round brat! Gallic Gun Fire!" As Gohan reached the peak of his ascension Vegeta released a massive wave of purplish energy that quickly overtook Gohan in the instant before he began to fall, but Vegeta was left confused and disoriented when he suddenly found himself right in the path of his own attack without any hope of evading or even putting up any kind of defense. The next thing he knew he was hurtling through the air and was stopped from out of nowhere by a strong arm wrapping around his neck from behind and keeping him in a choke hold. He tried elbowing Gohan in the gut but his young opponent shifted to the side.

"I'm done playing games with you Vegeta. You should know by now that you're no match for me. Either give up now or prepare for the worst humiliation of your life." Gohan of course knew that Vegeta's pride would never allow him to admit defeat so easily, but he really just wanted to get back to Konoha so he could learn more about chakra and its possible uses and Vegeta was wasting his time. Predictably, rather than give up Vegeta growled at the mere suggestion that Gohan was superior to him and began violently thrashing about in order to force Gohan to release him. With a shake of his head Gohan released the rampaging Saiya-jin and resigned himself to his fate. He'd just have to make it quick and he knew just the technique for that.

"Fine then, have it your way. Kaio-ken times ten!!!" He grunted and doubled over as he nearly lost control of his energy from the sudden influx of such a massive amount of wild power but regained himself quickly enough to catch Vegeta off guard and send him hurtling through the air with a powerful kick to the midsection. Before Vegeta could even think of recovering Gohan was behind him and launching a nasty sphere of energy right into his back that knocked him back the way he'd come. Gohan didn't let up the offensive and returned Vegeta's earlier favor and delivered a vicious uppercut to his back before letting loose an explosion of energy point blank that sent him rocketing up at amazing speeds. Of course, Gohan was faster and delivered his doubled up fists into Vegeta's sternum with so much force that the water didn't even slow him down and he left a large impact crater at the bottom of the lake. Gohan followed after him quickly, still struggling to keep a hold on the Kaio-ken and quickly got Vegeta back onto dry land, still recovering from that last blow.

"Do you still wish to continue this Vegeta? Or would you rather I toss you around like a rag doll some more?" Vegeta could only give him a pained yet defiant grunt due to his no doubt cracked sternum. Gohan stalked forward with a hateful snarl on his face, and a dark feeling began to overtake his energy as he let the kaio-ken dissipate. He was beginning to lose control of his anger and battle lust in part due to the whisperings of his cursed seal, which had only been muffled and not completely muted, but also due to his mounting frustration at being bothered yet again for not only his Mother's overprotective and somewhat selfish agenda but also Vegeta's own foolish pride.

"I grow tired of this Vegeta. Time and again I show you who is superior and yet you continue to pester me with these pointless challenges." He gave him a hard kick to the ribs, cracking a few and getting a pained moan from Vegeta. He did not allow his cursed seal to activate, but used the thoughts it gave him to enhance his anger and give him the willpower needed to literally beat some sense into Vegeta and then hopefully intimidate his Mother into leaving him alone. At least, that's what he'd intended to do until he realized with an annoyed huff that doing such things would only antagonize them into bothering him even more. So with a dismissive wave he returned to where Kakashi and the others were gaping at him openly, having felt his chakra increase exponentially when he'd pulled out the kaio-ken.

"Let's head back guys. He won't be fighting for a while." He hadn't looked any of them in the eye, but knew they agreed when he felt them getting into formation to head back to Konoha. It wasn't to be though because Vegeta suddenly appeared in their path, miraculously healed. Apparently he had a spare senzu bean with him. Just wonderful.

"You're not going anywhere brat! I'm nowhere near finished with you!" The look on Vegeta's face made it clear that he wasn't going to be satisfied with anything less than an all out brawl between Super Saiya-jins. That was the last straw. With an outer calm that showed no hint at the rage boiling within, Gohan brought both arms in front of him and unleashed a wave of energy of such magnitude that Vegeta stood no chance of getting out of the way and was blasted back several miles into the forest followed by the ashes of hundreds of trees that had been unlucky enough to be standing anywhere near Gohan's line of sight. For several moments afterwards there was an eerie calm until a massive wind that none of the shinobi present had ever witnessed before tore through the area with such force that it uprooted several more trees and tossed boulders about as though they were mere pebbles. The shinobi themselves were forced to anchor themselves to the ground with chakra to avoid being blown away like much of the debris they were now being pelted with, but even that was nothing compared to the enormous dome of blinding light that rose up in the distance to mark where Vegeta had landed. Everybody present, Piccolo included, could do nothing more than stare at Gohan in stunned silence, though the shinobi shared looks that were a mixture of utter horror and absolute wonderment. Piccolo though began to worry for Gohan's mental stability. This was so far out of Gohan's normal character as to be inconceivable and yet, he'd done so without any warning or even a single word in advance.

"Gohan are you....." He reached out and put his hand on the boy's shoulder, only to flinch back at the feeling of how tense he was and the look he'd given him over his shoulder. Normally, he could read his former student's face without the slightest difficulty regardless of how hard he tried to hide his feelings, yet the look he'd just been given...It was completely unreadable. He gazed hard into Gohan's eyes but he could see nothing. There was no emotion, no feeling in those eyes. It was just the dead, flat stare of a corpse. Piccolo shivered involuntarily.

"I'm fine Piccolo-san. Let's go." His voice was no better than his eyes had been, but what was even scarier was when he pulled a complete one-eighty and acted as though nothing had happened.

"So.....anybody else hungry?" Gohan received odd looks from all around as they headed out of the valley of the end and back towards Konoha. Oddly enough, or maybe not so much, there were no other obstacles, and nobody really noticed when Kakashi created a kage bunshin and sent it to survey the damage from Gohan's last attack.

It hadn't been hard for Kakashi's clone to find the path that the blast had followed as it had left a wide swath of destruction where it passed, incinerating and uprooting trees as well as throwing dirt and other debris all over the place. Not that Kakashi really cared all that much, but it didn't seem likely to him that Vegeta would be able to survive an attack that could cause this much of a disturbance where it had only passed by. He shuddered to think of what the blast crater would look like. After a good seven mile trek, he came upon a gigantic wall of dust that completely blocked his view of where he assumed ground zero to be, so the kage bunshin leaped up into the nearest tree and ran his way up to the top in order to try and see over the cloud, but it was useless as the dust cloud extended up even past the canopy of the forest. The clone pondered his options for a moment, thinking through the extensive list of jutsu at his disposal before coming to a decision and going through a short string of handseals.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!" The clone put as much chakra as he dared into the technique without risking further destruction of the area or even accidentally dispelling himself. The resulting blast of wind completely dispersed the dust cloud, giving the kage bunshin a clear view of the damaged area. As the last of the dust cleared out, the clone let out a gasp and went completely stiff at the sight before him.

"Th...this is....." The clone couldn't even begin to put words to the scene of devastation before him. To put it simply, it looked as though a meteor had fallen from the sky and hit the ground going several hundred miles an hour. The crater, for there was no other word that could possibly fit this, had to be at least three miles in diameter and several hundred feet deep. What was nearly as surprising to the kage bunshin, though not nearly as awe inducing, was the fact that Vegeta had somehow survived such a massive explosion. That isn't to say of course that he'd escaped unharmed as he seemed to be covered in small cuts, gashes and burns. His armor though had taken the brunt of the attack, as the entire left side had been completely obliterated with the spandex jumpsuit underneath faring no better, revealing a torso nearly covered in nasty looking battle scars on top of the obvious more recent injuries. Vegeta turned his attention to where that large blast of wind had come from and scowled upon seeing that it wasn't Gohan, though with a quick zanzo-ken he teleported over to the shocked imitation in order to force some answers out of him. Before the kage bunshin could even blink he was in his face and glaring it down, seething anger clearly burning within.

"Where is the boy? He'd better not run away from me!" He was clearly still itching for a fight, which Kakashi couldn't quite understand, considering that he shouldn't be anything more than scattered ashes by now.

"How...how are you still alive?" Kakashi had to wonder just what these people were to be able to dish out and receive such overwhelming power with such apparent ease. Vegeta only laughed at his ignorance.

"Ha! As if such a weak attack could have killed me. That fool is capable of far more than that!" He was becoming visibly excited just thinking about training with the brat. Kakarrot's eldest was still so many leagues above his own strength it was maddening, and only by training and fighting with the child could he even hope to approach his strength. And damn it all, Vegeta was bound and determined to surpass the boy and prove his superiority to that clown Kakarrot's bloodline. Vegeta's rant left Kakashi speechless.

'That was weak? Just what is Gohan capable of? Something doesn't add up here. If this is a minimal show of strength then just how did Orochimaru manage to infect him with the cursed seal? Orochimaru is powerful, but this is way beyond even him.' The kage bunshin didn't even bother replying to Vegeta and simply dispelled itself with a cloud of smoke, leaving Vegeta dumbfounded and very much pissed off.

Back with the group, Kakashi suddenly tensed up and had to stop as he nearly lost his balance as the group hopped from tree to tree on their way back to Konoha. Of course, this caused the rest of the group to stop as well.

"Are you alright Kakashi-sensei?" Gohan inquired as he floated over to where the jounin stood. Kakashi hesitated but gave him an eye smile.

"I'm fine. I just sent a clone to check something out and it found something interesting is all. It's nothing you need to worry about." He gave him a reassuring pat on the head and signaled for the group to continue on their way though he now stayed near the back of the group so he could think with a smaller chance of being interrupted. After all, what his clone had just relayed to him was very worrying. His first instinct was to report it to the Hokage, since it could possibly mean that Gohan was collaborating with Orochimaru, but Kakashi wanted to get more information first. He would observe Gohan's words and actions closely and if he looked suspicious Kakashi would question the boy first. After all, the elite jounin prided himself on being able to read people nearly flawlessly with few exceptions.

Once the village gates were in sight the entire group minus Sasuke let out a relieved breath. Though he wasn't showing it, Sasuke was nervous about his fate now that he'd had some sense knocked into him. Essentially, he'd just left Konoha to join one of its greatest enemies, a crime that could very well lead to his being tossed in a jail cell for the rest of his life or even executed. He was taking a big gamble here and he knew it, but Gohan's words had forced him to think things through and he had to admit he'd been acting rashly. He also realized with no little shame that he'd allowed his quest for revenge to control him so completely that he'd completely neglected the other part of his ambition. As the group checked in at the gate and headed to see the Hokage, Sasuke's thoughts shifted to what Gohan had tried to tell him about the Uchiha massacre during their fight.

_Flashback_

"_Sasuke, your brother massacred the Uchiha clan that night, that much you already know, but what you don't know is why he did it." He could see the growing tension in Sasuke, but he had to tell him, had to convince him that he didn't need to go to Orochimaru for power, that his brother wasn't the evil monster that he thought he was._

"_The true reason behind the Uchiha massacre has been kept a secret from you and the entire village, for your protection and the village's as well. I know what Itachi said that night, that he'd killed off your entire family to test his capacity." Gohan watched as Sasuke visibly reeled upon hearing his brother's words thrown back at him once again. There's no way Gohan could know such things, and he wasn't shy about letting him know._

"_And why should I believe what you're telling me? If this really happened and was kept from me and the rest of the village, then how did you find out? The way I see it is that either you're lying to me, or you're in league with Itachi. Either way you're giving me an excuse to kill you." He crossed his arms and waited to see how Gohan would react._

"_You remember that Itachi used his eye technique on me right?" An impassive nod was his only response._

"_Well, I suppose to help explain this I should probably tell you that there are two distinct personalities in my mind." Gohan refrained from giving any more information than that, as Sasuke was the last person he wanted to reveal his secret to right now._

"_You're probably thinking that I'm crazy, but I guess the best way to put it is that my split personalities are the result of what you could probably call an advanced bloodline limit. The only problem is, I haven't exactly allowed myself enough balance in my own mind and have pretty much forced that other personality to develop a consciousness of its own. The result of this, of course, is that my other personality doesn't like me very much and for most of my life has been fighting me for control of my body."_

"_So what exactly does that have to do with my brother? If you're just going to waste my time then get ready to fight me." Sasuke's impatience elicited an exasperated sigh from Gohan, but he quickly continued before the broody Uchiha flew off the handle._

"_I'm getting there, just let me finish." Gohan waited for Sasuke to relent before he continued._

"_As I was saying, this other personality was constantly fighting me for dominance, and when Itachi used Tsukuyomi on me, my other personality saw into Itachi's memories and reached into his mind to take some of them to attack me with, specifically memories of the day that he killed his best friend for the Mangekyo Sharingan and the night he slaughtered your clan."_

_End Flashback_

There were a couple of things about what Gohan had said that bothered Sasuke more than a little, such as the insinuation that there was more to the Uchiha massacre than he knew. Then there was this Uchiha Madara that supposedly had helped his brother with the massacre. He'd never heard of an Uchiha Madara outside of when Shikamaru had explained the statues at the valley of the end, but at the same time there was no way it could be the same man simply because that would make him at minimum about ninety years old, possibly even pushing a hundred. Of course, that was ignoring the fact that Madara had supposedly been killed by the Shodai Hokage when he tried to leave the village. He had questions for his dark haired teammate and if the Hokage didn't have him executed, he would get his answers one way or another.

Somewhere within Rice country....

"What do you have to report, Kabuto?" Orochimaru leered down at his kneeling servant. He knew the boy had failed him, but he wanted to hear it out of his own mouth before he beat him to within an inch of his life. Of course, should Kabuto prove entertaining enough he may be lenient on him this time. After all, he did so enjoy making the normally condescending teen sweat, and indeed he was sweating right now even if it was only internally. Sometimes the boy just had to be put in his place, after all.

"My apologies Orochimaru-sama, but the mission to retrieve Sasuke-kun has failed. The sound five have all fallen and Sasuke has been taken back to Konoha, apparently of his own free will." Kabuto dare not look his master in the eye at this point. It hadn't been difficult to tell that Orochimaru had known of his failure if only because of the malevolent aura that he'd been exuding since he'd entered his chambers.

"Tell me something I don't already know, like why it is that Sasuke-kun isn't already here at my side." The Sannin put no inflection into his voice, but Kabuto could still detect the underlying hostility in his words. He would have to tread very carefully if he wanted to walk away from this alive. Orochimaru had told him to follow Sasuke discreetly, and to make sure that he made it to the sound base in rice country in one piece. Even though he knew his sound five were competent enough, Orochimaru was not about to leave the fate of his next host to chance and had sent Kabuto as an extra precaution. Kabuto had been watching Sasuke fight Naruto from the shadows of the forest, and had been impressed with the power that both boys displayed. He'd intended to escort Sasuke to Orochimaru once Naruto had been dealt with, but then Gohan and that strange green man had literally dropped out of the sky to interfere with the fight. Things had only gotten worse from there.

"There were some......unexpected circumstances. Gohan-kun and a strange person I've never seen before appeared and interfered with Sasuke's fight. I would have stepped in but more unknowns arrived at the battlefield and one of them engaged Gohan in battle." Kabuto kept his tone blank as he spoke, knowing that if he betrayed his nervousness to his master he would be pounced on like a trapped rat. As his master spoke, he could hear the anger in his voice, but at the same time it seemed to be tempered with curiosity as well.

"Cowardice is unlike you Kabuto. There is more to this than you are saying. Would you care to explain?" Orochimaru's anger dissipated in favor of amusement as he watched his subordinate squirm nervously, knowing that giving the wrong answer would not end well for him. What made it even better for the snake Sannin was the fact that nobody else could get such a reaction from Kabuto. Oh yes, he would let the medic-nin off the hook this time, as he was proving more entertaining than usual this time around.

"Gohan-kun displayed a rather frightening amount of power, even more so than what you claim to have witnessed when you fought him." He paused for a moment, considering how he should go about getting his master to accept what he'd seen. Even he was having a hard time believing it and he'd been there."Hmmm.....at any point towards the end of my absence did you notice any sort of unusual and abrupt disturbances in the weather?" He watched Orochimaru's features shift from mild annoyance to intense curiosity. So the effects of that monstrous blast had been felt out here after all, and apparently the idea of Gohan being the cause of it had the Sannin's full attention.

"Yes, in fact something very strange indeed happened while you were away. I had originally thought that someone had been foolish enough to attack me, but I could not find the origin of the disturbance. Could it be that Gohan-kun was the source of this? I would like to know more about him Kabuto. I wish to know how he has achieved such power." He paused to think for a moment before a devilish smirk spread across his face as an idea came to him. "Do you not have a meeting with your former master soon?" He gave a malicious chuckle at Kabuto's nod. This was going to be fun. "You will give him all of the information you have on Gohan-kun, including the little gift I've left him. No doubt that twice damned Zetsu has already informed them of what has transpired today, and if they believe that he has some connection with me they may move to neutralize him before he becomes a threat to their plans. In the end, he may very well kill a few of them for me which will make things much easier in the long run." The snake sannin couldn't help but smirk as he dismissed Kabuto. It was going to be fun playing his enemies against each other. Of course, it was inevitable that Akatsuki go after Konoha to get at Naruto-kun anyways, but hopefully this way he could plan things out more thoroughly while his former organization put more of their resources into taking care of Gohan and capturing Naruto. He chuckled menacingly as he imagined how amusing it was going to be to watch his enemies destroy each other.

Well, originally I had intended to make this chapter much longer, but no matter what I did it just felt too forced and wouldn't have flowed well, and this seems like as good of a place as any to end it. Hope this chapter doesn't make you want to cut your eyes out too badly lol.


	17. Chapter 17

To the casual observer, Uchiha Sasuke would seem like the epitome of serenity. He stood calmly outside the door to the Hokage's office, waiting for Kakashi and the others to finish giving their reports and call him in so that the Hokage could decide what to do with him. With his slouched posture and his hands in his pockets it would seem as though he hadn't a care in the world, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

'I can't believe I let them talk me into this! There's no way I'll get strong enough to achieve my goals here, and that's assuming I even survive to the end of the day!' The corners of his mouth twitched downwards ever so slightly at the thought of being executed for trying to leave the village. It wasn't so much that he was afraid of dying, far from it actually, but he wasn't ready yet. No, he couldn't die until _that_ man had been put six feet under. Actually, Sasuke would probably just leave his corpse to rot in the sun and be picked at by scavengers. Someone who would kill off their own family, _his_ family, didn't deserve a proper burial. His thoughts turned to his fight with Naruto, and what he'd intended to do when he'd beaten the dead last into submission. He was unable to suppress the shiver that crawled up his spine when he recalled Gohan's words to him.

'He's right, I hate Itachi with every fiber of my being, and yet I was going to...' An image of Naruto formed before him, blood gushing out of a massive hole in his chest and a look of utter betrayal on his face. Sasuke grunted and waved the image away, annoyed. 'I will not follow in your footsteps. That accursed mangekyou sharingan, I'll get stronger without it. I'll gain power my own way and sharpen my hatred into the ultimate blade, far more deadly than your bloody eyes.' He could almost see Itachi's back, so far away from him. He reached out towards him just as the door to the Hokage's office and Kakashi's face poked out, giving him that odd smile of his.

"The Hokage is ready to see you now Sasuke." His demeanor turned grim. "For your own sake, as well as the sake of your teammates, please keep your cool and accept what she has to say." He ushered the tense Uchiha into the Hokage's office, where Sasuke noted that not only were his teammates there, but also the scarred proctor from the chunin exams and a blonde haired man that looked like a male version of Yamanaka Ino. The scarred one, Morino Ibiki if Sasuke remembered correctly, was sending a rather pointed glare in his direction, while everyone else kept their attention on the Hokage. Tsunade's attention remained solely fixed on Sasuke from the moment he entered the room, making him rather uncomfortable. For several moments the room sat in a tense silence, until Tsunade cleared her throat and began to speak.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you are accused of unauthorized leave of absence with the intent of abandoning the village of Konoha and defecting to its enemy. Normally by now you would be in a cell awaiting execution, however it has been reported to me that you have surrendered and come back willingly so I'll allow an exception this time. Don't think however, that this was a decision I came to lightly. Had it not been for the testimonies of your teammates we wouldn't even be having this meeting, so I hope you realize that you owe them your life. Despite the fact that I have chosen to spare you however, don't think you'll be getting off without any sort of punishment. I hereby order you to submit to interrogation and, if deemed necessary, regular therapy sessions. Until such time as you are deemed stable and trustworthy you'll be taken off the active duty roster and not allowed to take on any missions. Also, if at any point during your therapy or interrogation you are deemed a security risk to your teammates or the village in general I will not hesitate to have you locked up. Am I clear on this?" When she didn't receive an immediate reply she focused some killing intent at Sasuke and repeated the question, to which she received a muted nod, so she released him to Ibiki and Inoichi's care and dismissed them and everyone else, save Gohan and Kakashi who she asked to stay. After everyone else had left the room, Tsunade notified her secretary that she wouldn't be seeing anyone for a while and sealed up her office. After she had done this she strode over to the window at the back of her office and spent several moments looking out over the village before letting out a frustrated sigh and sitting behind her desk, Gohan and Kakashi straightening their posture as she did so. Gohan shifted nervously, already having a clue as to what this was about, although he wondered why Kakashi would be here.

"Gohan, I've gone over your recent mission with Kakashi, and some of the things he's telling me worry me greatly. I'm told that you briefly lost control of your actions and obliterated a large part of the forest near the valley of the end. Now, I very much want to trust you but what you've told me about yourself and your actions since you've come to Konoha haven't exactly matched up very well, would you care to explain this?" Tsunade saw Gohan glance at Kakashi briefly, no doubt debating whether or not to reveal any information about himself. After a moment of internal debate, he nodded to himself and took a deep breath.

"Hokage-sama, I'm not really sure I can properly explain myself, because even I don't know what's going on right now. Recently I've felt overstressed and I haven't been handling it very well." Gohan looked hesitant to say any more, so Tsunade decided to be more straightforward.

"Gohan, from what you've told me you're an extremely powerful fighter, and Kakashi's report only reinforces that idea. Now what bugs me about this the most, is that somehow Orochimaru managed to get a crused seal on you despite the fact that you should have been able to take him down with one blow. Now if what I keep hearing about your capabilities is true there should have been no way for him to even approach you. To me this almost looks like you purposely allowed him to place the seal on you. Is that a correct statement?" Tsunade immediately saw the shame and guilt in Gohan's eyes and knew she'd hit it spot on, her realization only being reinforced by his quiet nod. "May I ask why you would allow such a thing? Orochimaru is one of Konoha's enemies, and quite obviously not someone to be trusted. Were you planning on joining him with Sasuke?"

"No Hokage-sama. The reason I let Orochimaru mark me like that, is because I need all the power I can get." Gohan could tell that Tsunade was going to berate him for such a foolish reason, but she didn't understand, couldn't understand the burden he had to bear. "Tsunade-sama please, try to understand where I'm coming from. My father has protected this planet from destruction more than once, and as his son it's now my responsibility to make sure the Earth is safe. As the Hokage you know the burden of keeping all of Konoha safe, and so you need to make sure you're the strongest in the village. For me, it goes way beyond that. I have to keep not only Konoha safe, but also Suna, Kumo, Iwa and Kiri as well as everyone between and beyond those villages." Forgetting himself, Gohan walked around Tsunade's desk and gestured out over the village.

"This is what you look over and protect, these hundred thousand people going about their daily lives within these walls, but go to the highest mountain top, and look out to the farthest point on the horizon and you still won't see but the smallest fraction of what I have to protect. Billions of people, in cites, towns, villages of all sizes and I have to be the one to make sure their liveliehoods aren't vaporized by some interstellar tyrant." Gohan spun around violently, and the look in his eyes shook Tsunade and Kakashi to their cores. His voice raising higher and higher as the damn broke and he poured out all his sorrow, his rage, his despair. "This burden falls solely on my shoulders, and if ever I'm not strong enough, then not only do my friends and loved ones lose," He stared straight into Tsunade's eyes, his expression deadly serious. "everyone loses." He turned away from them again, his eyes welling with tears. "I've failed once already, and my Father gave up his life to fix it and I will never, **ever** let that happen again! No matter what it takes, no matter what I must sacrifice I **will** be the strongest, even if I have to sell my soul to the devil!" So engrossed was he in his rant, he didn't notice Tsunade and Kakashi exchange worried looks. They each saw a bit of themselves in the boy before them, the guilt of failing to protect someone they cared for. This was not something they should be seeing in someone so young, no older than their rookie genin. This was an issue that would have to be adressed, lest it ruin his mind as it was clearly starting to do already, but first...

"Gohan, the last time we talked you mentioned a transformation, I'd like you to show me this time. We can go out to the training grounds if you would prefer to do it there." Tsunade was obviously not going to let him out of it this time, so Gohan agreed on the stipulation that they do it some ways away from the village, so as not to attract too much attention. Tsunade agreed to this, and so after unsealing her office she informed Shizune that she'd be out for a while and, on Gohan's advice, told her ANBU commander to be expecting large chakra spikes coming from outside the village. She, Gohan and Kakashi then proceeded to make their way into the forest around Konoha, far enough that Gohan could transform without causing any unnecessary collateral damage to the village or its inhabitants.

After a good half hour of travel Tsunade spotted a suitable clearing in the trees and signaled a stop, Gohan and Kakashi stopping at her side a moment later.

"This place should do just fine. Now Gohan, show us what you're capable of." She and Kakashi stood at the edge of the clearing and watched Gohan as he moved to the center and took a stance with his fists clenched at his sides. He closed his eyes and with a slight grunt of effort transformed into the first level of Super Saiya-jin, his golden hair blowing in the artificial breeze kicked up by the flaming golden aura surrounding him. Tsunade stared at him with wide eyes and Kakashi stood there gaping, thankfully having remembered to uncover his sharingan before Gohan transformed.

"Tsunade-sama, do you feel how much chakra he's putting out? He's at Bijuu levels!" Kakashi could scarcely belive what he was seeing. This was a boy no older than his genin team and he had more chakra than any other person he'd come across! Tsunade was having similar thoughts, but she had a feeling that this was only the tip of the iceberg as Gohan hadn't relaxed yet, and instead had fixed his now turquoise eyes onto them.

"Alright guys, this is what a Super Saiya-jin looks like. Since we're here though, I might as well show you Super Saiya-jin two. You might want to ground yourselves as well as you can, I don't have this next form mastered yet so it'll be a lot more...dramatic." He waited for Kakashi and Tsunade to stick themselves to the ground with chakra before once again taking his stance. This time, instad of only a grunt of exertion he began yelling, even as his muscles bulged and the ground began to quake beneath his feet. His screaming intensified and what had been a simple breeze quickly became a monsoon, blowing underbrush this way and that and pelting Kakashi and Tsunade with pebbles, leaves and other debris. Higher and higher Gohan's voice rose, and he raised his head up as though he were shouting to the heavens as his hair spiked back, save for one lone spike falling over the right side of his face. Bolts of energy began to discharge around him, incinerating the smaller debris that flew too near him and some even leaving scorch marks on the ground around him and, with a primal roar of rage he arched his back and power exploded from him in waves, blinding his two witnesses and knocking over some of the smaller trees that surrounded the clearing and nearly doing the same to Kakashi and Tsunade who both had to increase the amount of chakra they were putting out to keep from having the dirt they were standing on simply blown away with them on it. When everything had finally settled down Tsunade and Kakashi could only gape in utter awe and even some fear as Gohan stood there in his full Ascended Saiya-jin glory. They nearly flinched when he locked his steely gaze with theirs.

"This is Super Saiya-jin two, also known as the Ascended Saiya-jin. I'm sure you have at least some sensitivity to the power I'm putting out, and I'll tell you right now that it wouldn't take a fraction of this to simply wipe the continent we're standing on off the map. Think about that, Konoha, Kumo, Suna, Kiri, Iwa and all the minor villages gone in seconds with no warning whatsoever. This is why I've traveled to Konoha, to learn anything I possibly can to give myself an advantage." He gestured up to the sky, bright and blue with some slow moving clouds scattered here and there. "I'm sure you've both taken the time at least once to look at the night sky, and how truly endless it looks. I've been out there among the stars, and let me tell you it's so much bigger than it looks, and far more dangerous than you could possibly imagine." He turned to them once again, focusing his attention specifically on Kakashi.

"Sensei, I've told Tsunade-sama this before, but my Dad was not from this world. He was one of the few remaining members of a race of human like aliens called the Saiya-jins. Their homeworld was destroyed a long time ago and my Dad died only two years ago, leaving only one known Saiya-jin left alive. This is what enables me to transform like this." He stepped back a bit so that he could focus on the both of them, and as he once again began to speak his voice took on a grave tone. "In order to help you understand what I've been trying to tell you, let me tell you the truth behind the Saiya-jin race, that is what they did and why they were destroyed." He closed his eyes and thought back to when his Uncle Radditz had kidnapped him, and the things that had been revealed that day.

"The Saiya-jins were a powerful race of warriors, feared throughout the galaxy for their battle prowess and utter ruthlessness on the battlefield. They worked as soldiers for a massive empire spanning the known universe that dealt in the trading of planets. While this may not sound too sinister, what it really entailed was a client would request a planet, and then the planet trade would send a warrior or warriors to that planet to prepare it for habitation." His gaze darkened considerably, and he lowered his head so that Tsunade and Kakashi couldn't see his face. "Essentially what that entailed was complete genocide of whoever already lived on that planet." He could hear Kakashi make a sharp intake of breath and he looked Tsunade and Kakashi in the eye in turn, taking in their shocked expressions. "I'm sure after hearing that it's not too hard to put two and two together but there's more. This did not always take an army, sometimes it would only take one warrior depending on the strength and abilities of the planet's inhabitants and the strength of the soldier or soldiers doing the clearing. It didn't stop there though. The Saiya-jins were all warriors, every single one of them without exception, regardless of how old they were or whatever else they did. Even their infants were sent out to clear planets. That's what happened to my Dad, he wasn't strong at birth so he was sent here, where the populace was considered to be weak." He opened his mouth to continue but a rather pale looking Tsunade interrupted him.

"How could they possibly expect infants to commit genocide? Regardless of how weak a species is, shouldn't they be able to take out a defenseless baby?"

"I was just getting to that. Even as babies Saiya-jins are not completely defenseless, even the weaklings. Anatomically Saiya-jins are nearly identical to humans save for one characteristic. Every Saiya-jin, including half breeds are born with a tail which is a major source of power for them. The transformations you've seen from me are not the only types a Saiya-jin has. If a Saiya-jin with a tail catches a glimpse of a full moon they transform into a gigantic ape and their power increases ten fold. Not only that but they go into a berserker rage, destroying anyting that crosses their path." By this time Tsunade looked like she desperately wanted a bottle of sake and Kakashi looked like he was ready to faint. It was Kakashi who spoke first.

"So you're saying...that your father was sent here to kill every last human on this planet, so that some alien could make it their home? That's a rather...unpleasant thought. I couldn't help but notice though that you seem to be missing your tail. Did you have it removed on purpose to prevent the transformation?"

"No, Vegeta cut it off when I was only five. It was when he'd come here to clear the planet and used an artificial moon blast to transform. His tail was cut off, which made him return to normal but then I saw the blast and transformed as well and could have killed him in his weakened state, so he cut mine off as well. Anyways, as I was saying the planet trade that the Saiya-jins were part of was run by a certain family of lizard like aliens who were monstrously powerful, far more so than even the strongest Saiya-jin. This ruling family was extremely arrogant and prideful and felt they had the right to rule the entire universe, but the thing about Saiya-jins is that they get stronger every time they fight, and the more injured they get, the stronger they get. Frieza, the ruler of this area of space decided that the Saiya-jins were getting too powerful, and so he went to their planet and single handedly blew it up, wiping out all but a handful of Saiya-jins in the process. Most of them he managed to keep under his thumb in the decades afterwards, but my Dad managed to escape his notice, and when we were out in space he managed to defeat Frieza in battle. Unfortunately he spared Frieza and he came to Earth for revenge, but this time his father came with him. Thankfully, my father, who had become a Super Saiya-jin while fighting Frieza the first time, managed to take both of them out pretty easily." He gave them both a look that was dead serious, and it was only enhanced by his transformed state. "Do you see now why I allowed Orochimaru to mark me? I've seen some of what exists out in space, and it's not pleasant at all. Sure, there are some races that are peaceful, but we have no way of knowing who or what may come next and I'm the Earh's first and last defense against whatever is out there."

"But Gohan," Kakashi cut in "you've got your sensei, and while I don't know the situation with Vegeta, you didn't seem to be going at him as though he were a true threat. Also, if what I've heard from Gai is true you've had others come to try and take you home. Do you really have to bear this burden alone?"

"That's true," Gohan said. "those guys do fight with me. The problem is that none of my friends are capable of gaining strength nearly as fast as Saiya-jins do, and so they're always easily picked off by the enemy, and as for Vegeta, well he only fights on our side because it's in line with his own goals for now. Not only that but he often takes great risks to satisfy his own pride, risks that could cost everyone else their lives. Piccolo-sensei is pretty strong, but he's nowhere near as strong as I am, so if there's an enemy I can't beat he can only do so much to help me."

"Well Gohan, I really think you should learn to rely on your friends a little more," Tsunade said "but I suppose I can understand where you're coming from. Being as strong as you are makes you feel responsible for your friends' lives and you want to keep them from harm. Even so, I'm not entirely sure what it is you want from us. I know you said you want to get stronger, but just how do you think we can help you with that?" Tsunade was more than a little curious about this. After the display she'd just witnessed and the vast amounts of chakra that seemed to be flooding the area she couldn't help but wonder what he thought a group of comparatively normal humans could do for him. It was a good thing she'd told the ANBU to expect the chakra spikes, as no doubt even with that precaution most of the village's shinobi would be on edge, hell, even being right here and witnessing it had Tsunade on edge and she could tell Kakashi was having trouble wrapping his mind around it all as well. Gohan looked a bit uncomfortable at having to explain this, but he pressed ahead, steeling himself against his chaotic emotions.

"What I need the most Tsunade-sama, is to learn how to be a shinobi, to learn how to kill my enemies without letting my emotions interfere. My Father was the kindest man you would ever meet, and no matter what the enemy did he would always try to give them another chance. This came back to haunt him, as one of the enemies he let go in the past created artificial humans for the sole purpose of killing him. Unfortunately, he's passed on his kind heart to me and if I've learned nothing else from my past battles, it's that you can't hesitate to take the enemy out. But, that aside I've noticed some very interesting techniques since I've been here, and I think that I could benefit a lot from learning some of them."

"Well if you put it that way, how can I refuse. It's good luck that you ended up on team 7, because Kakashi here is the best person to help you with what you need. That is, assuming he hasn't forgotten his ANBU training?" Tsunade looked to Kakashi quizzically, and he looked more than a bit unsettled at what she was asking of him.

"With all due repsect Tsunade-sama, do you really think it's best that we..."

"I understand your concerns Kakashi," Tsunade interjected. "but you do believe what he's saying don't you? As far as I can see he's telling the complete truth here, and if that's the case can we really afford otherwise? I'm not saying you have to do this right now, but you two need to work out a good time to go out on an extended training mission. Just come to me when you're ready and I'll authorize it." She could tell that Kakashi still didn't particularly like the idea, but he seemed to have caught her point and so didn't try to argue again. She was about to say it was time to head back but Kakashi spoke up, as Gohan looked like he wanted to say something.

"Are you alright Gohan? You look like you have something to say."

"Well, I've been thinking about it a bit lately and I find it odd that I didn't see any shinobi at the Cell games. I mean, I know you guys don't really have the technology to get access to the satelite television that the rest of the world uses, but at the very least you should've been able to sense our chakra levels." Gohan watched as Kakashi and Tsunade exchanged confused looks, then looked to him for clarification. "Didn't you feel anything at all? It was two years ago. First my Dad fought and then I did, and our opponent was nearly as strong as I am now." Gohan was surprised when they both shook their heads.

_'Something's not right here,' _Gohan thought to himself._ 'I wasn't actively manipulating my chakra at all when I transformed and yet obviously it went up to levels they're not used to feeling. Surely as high as it is now they would've been able to feel at least something. It doesn't make any sense! I'll have to mention it to Piccolo when he gets here.' _Indeed, Gohan could feel Piccolo and Dende making their way to his current location. Dende had wanted to check the village out, and after everyone's return from the valley of the end he'd taken off with a rather disgruntled Piccolo, stating that even he could tell that Gohan needed some space.

That was when Gohan noticed it. A little ways into the forest surrounding the clearing, next to one of the many giant trees of the area was the biggest venus fly trap Gohan had ever seen. Or at least, he assumed that's what it was. He made his way over to it and crouched down so he could get a better look at it, making sure to stay far enough away that he didn't accidentally fall into its leaves and set it off.

"Do either of you know what kind of plant this is? It looks like a venus fly trap, but I've never seen one anywhere near this big before. It looks like it's big enough to swallow a person whole!" He looked over at Tsunade, who'd come over and crouched next to him but she seemed just as curious about it as he, and in fact she seemed a bit cautious of it.

"No, as far as I know there's nothing like that native to fire country. Kakashi, something isn't right about this plant, please take a look at it with your sharingan." He never needed to though, as the moment he started to pull up his hitai-ate a purplish cloud burst from within the plant's leaves and the three leapt back in an attempt to get away.

"That's poison gas, don't inhale whatever you do!" Tsunade ordered quickly, but it was needless as Gohan simply sent out a wave of energy that caused a harsh wind to blow through the clearing, forcing the gas cloud to disperse. Unfortunately, by the time the cloud had dispersed enough for them to see properly the strange plant was gone. Gohan tried to locate the energy of the creature but in the confusion he hadn't had enough time to get a proper feel for its energy, and he couldn't feel any other notable energies in the area.

"What the hell was that?" Tsunade bellowed angrily. "How could someone have been spying on us that whole time without any of us noticing?" It was at that moment that Piccolo and Dende landed, both looking concerned at the worried looks on the clearing's occupants' faces. It was Dende who spoke up, instantly running to his friend's side.

"Are you alright Gohan? What just happened?" He and Piccolo had seen the last vestiges of the poison cloud from the air, and had hurried to the scene to make sure Gohan was okay.

"Yeah, I just got done telling these guys about myself and someone was spying on us the entire time without any of us noticing." He frowned, disappointed in himself that he hadn't noticed another person in the vicinity. He'd kept all of his senses alert throughout his demonstration so that he could stop in the event that the wrong person came too close. And yet, he had never suspected a thing. "It's strange, I was keeping an eye out for anyone that might be coming too close, but I never sensed a thing until the spy attacked. It's almost like they had the ki of a plant rather than a person."

"Were you able to determine which way they went?" Piccolo asked, his own senses stretched out and eyes carefully scanning everything in sight.

"No." Gohan shook his head. "I lost sight of them in that cloud, and somehow they managed to disguise their ki again almost immediately after attacking. I've never seen anyone that could mask their presence so well before. They even had the appearance of a plant, and the only reason I even noticed them was because I've never seen that type of plant grow so big."

"I doubt there's anything to worry about in this case Gohan." Kakashi said, trying to reassure the genin. "You didn't tell us anything that could really be used against you, and after that little display you put on I think anybody would think twice about attacking you." Despite what he said though, Kakashi was worried. _'For them to have escaped mine and Tsunade's notice, they couldn't have been actively using chakra. That means either they were here before us and were waiting, or they actually have that appearance. Could it be one of Orochimaru's experiments, or is it something else entirely? Either way, whoever they are they're good.'_

A.N(**READ THIS)**:Well, after two long years chapter 17 is out. It's really surprising to me that it's been that long, as it sure hasn't seemed like it. Heh, I suppose the older you get the faster time goes by. At any rate, I recall some of you were concerned about Vegeta's confusion when fighting Gohan with the henge. Well, from what I've gathered from watching DBZ, it seems to me that ki sensing is mostly an active skill, where they have to actively look for someone or feel out their energy in order to know where they're at, who's in the area, etc. Mostly I get this from Vegeta, as he consistently underestimates his opponents and judges them based on the size of their body rather than their energy. If ki sensing were truly a passive skill, then when he fought perfect Cell for the first tme he would have known just outclassed he was. The same goes for when he and Goku faced down Kid Buu, he once again commented on the fact that he got smaller, rather than his higher energy. That said, I think that it is also sort of a passive ability in that if someone's energy shoots through the roof or drops through the floor, they can notice it relatively easily. Now, I think most anyone in DBZ would probably not have fallen for that trick of Gohan's, but Vegeta's pride and ego are big weaknesses for him, and he tends to stop thinking clearly when they've been insulted. I don't know, maybe I'm just over thinking things a little, but that's my take on it.

Also, please don't jump to conclusions about Gohan saying that Vegeta came to Earth to clear the planet or that Goku is the one that killed Frieza and King Cold. While he has decided to tell them the truth, he has no intention at all to tell them about the dragon balls or Trunks and his time traveling adventures. So, to be blunt, he was lying through his teeth. I know most of you probably understood this when you read it, but I'm just trying to cover all of my bases here.


End file.
